Analytical Assessment of How Nigerian Literary Awards Shape the National Comparative Literary Canon

Literary prizes function as powerful instruments of canon formation, and their role in shaping the comparative literary canon in Nigeria, including which texts receive institutional endorsement as representative of national literary achievement, warrants systematic analytical examination. This study analytically assessed how four major Nigerian literary awards (the Nigeria Prize for Literature, the ANA Prize, the Wole Soyinka Prize, and the Etisalat Prize) have shaped the national comparative literary canon from 2010 to 2023. A prize studies methodology was employed, analysing shortlists and winners for author gender, geopolitical zone, language of composition, genre, and thematic focus. Qualitative data from structured interviews with six prize administrators and eight literary critics supplemented the quantitative analysis. Results showed that male authors won 68.2 percent of prize decisions across all four awards. South West authors won 41.3 percent of prizes, while North East and North West authors collectively won fewer than 8 percent. Novels in English won 79.4 percent of all prizes, with indigenous language literature receiving negligible recognition. Thematic analysis of winning texts showed a strong preference for texts dealing with the Nigerian Civil War, political corruption, and gender, with minimal recognition of speculative fiction, diaspora literature, or environmental themes. The study concludes that Nigerian literary prizes systematically reproduce existing canonical hierarchies rather than expanding them and recommends structural reforms to prize administration, including mandatory indigenous language categories and explicit regional diversity requirements in jury composition.

Keywords: literary prizes, canon formation, Nigerian literature, award analysis, Comparative Literature