Top Five Coveted Literary Awards

July 23, 2019July 23, 2019 Raphel Adeniran

There are loads of literary awards meant to promote and celebrate great literary works. There are however quite a few that are highly placed because of their competitiveness and the quality of literature they produce. eelive.ng puts together five literary awards that have birthed great works of literature for you.

1. Nobel Prize in Literature

The Nobel Prize in Literature is a Swedish literature prize that is awarded annually, since 1901, to an author from any country who was, in the words of the will of Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel, produced “in the field of literature the most outstanding work in an ideal direction.” The Nobel Prize in Literature has been awarded 110 times to 114 Nobel Laureate between 1901 and 2017. The current laureate is British novelist Kazuo Ishiguro.

2. Man Booker Prize

Formally known as Booker-McConnell Prize (1969-2001), the Man Booker Prize is a literary prize awarded each year for the best original novel written in English language and published in the United Kingdom and Ireland. Previous winners include; Arundhati Roy, Kazuo Ishiguro, Ben Okri, J.M. Coetzee, Margaret Atwood, Marlon Kame, Anna Burns, amongst others.

3. Pulitzer Prize

This US award is given to those in newspaper or online journalism, literature, or musical composition. There are 21 categories including the Pulitzer Prize for Educational Writing, the Pulitzer Prize for Music and the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. Each winner in the 21 categories receives a certificate and a cash prize of $15,000.

4. The Caine Prize for African Writing

Established in 2000, the Caine Prize for African Writing is an annual literary award for the best original short story by an African writer published in English. Previous winners include; Leila Aboulela, Helon Habila, Okwiri Oduor, Binyavanga Wainaina, E.C. Osondu, Tope Folarin, Makena Onjerika, Lesley Nneka Arimah, amongst others.