Sheme, Balaraba and Maje emerge winners

Engineer Mohamed Bashir Karaye Prize in Hausa Literature

Sheme, Balaraba and Maje emerge winners

Three writers emerged yesterday as winners of the maiden edition of Engineer
Mohamed Bashir Karaye Prize in Hausa Literature. The investiture of the prize
took place at an impressive ceremony organised by the Abuja chapter of the
Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA). Editor of LEADERSHIP, Ibrahim Sheme, took
the first prize with his novel, 'Yartsana, while Hajiya Balaraba Ramat Yakubu
and Maje El-Hajeej Hotoro came second and third with their novels, Matar Uba
Jaraba and Kankana respectively.
The prize was endowed by the widow of the late Mohammed Bashir Karaye, a former
commissioner in Kano State and an ardent lover of the arts. The widow, Mrs
Bilkisu A. Bashir, who is the Executive Secretary of National Judicial Service
Commission, Abuja, was inspired by a desire to immortalise her husband's memory.

The Chief Justice of the Federation, Justice Idris Legbo Kutigi; a former Chief
Justice of the Federation, Justice Muhammadu Lawal Uwais and a former minister
and ambassador, Professor Iyorwuese Hagher were some of the dignitaries that
graced the occasion that took place at the International Conference Centre,
Abuja.

A university don, Prof. Anthony Chukwuemeka Oha, delivered the keynote address
in which he traced the history of written literature in Africa and showed how
literary competitions helped develop creative writing in Hausa. He lauded the
Karaye family for supporting the cause of literature in the country.

Similarly, chairman of the panel that judged the books, Prof. Abdalla Uba Adamu,
highlighted milestones in the history of Hausa creative writing competitions
from 1933 to date, showing how such milestones affected the direction and
quality of the books produced. Commenting particularly on the current contest,
he told the audience that the judges' panel had used a simple method in
assessing the 19 entries for the awards, with a focus on cultural impact of the
entries, themes, plot, style, etc. He was confident that the three winning
entries were adjudged the best out of the lot.
The winners were given certificates and cash prizes of N150,000, N100,000, and
N50,000 respectively - an innovation in Hausa literary competitions. They were
invited to tell the audience who they were and what motivated them to go into
writing. They said they were motivated by the desire to enlighten the public and
influence the society for positive change.

Also speaking at the ceremony, Professor Hagher noted that the Hausa language
had attained a position of acceptability that could easily make it the lingua
franca of Africa. He also pointed out that the language had increasingly
transformed itself to go with the times.

Justice Kutigi stated that the Hausa language contained ingredients of African
cultural activities and had grown tremendously within the last three decades. He
praised the organisers of the competition for a job well done.

Engineer Karaye was remembered by one of his bosom friends, Gen. Lawal Ja'afaru
Isa, a former governor of Kaduna State, who recalled their days together with
the deceased in secondary school and after. He said Karaye was a very humble and
hard working friend of his, saying they had related with one another up till the
time of his death. Isa was represented at the occasion by his wife Hajiya
Zainab.
Karaye died on October 25 last year, and yesterday was the first anniversary of
his death.

The sponsor of the prizes, Hajiya Bilkisu, had told reporters in her office
weeks back that she was willing to fund the writing competition every year. And
the chairman of the Abuja chapter of ANA, Dr. Emman Usman Shehu, revealed that
the competition would be interchanged between the genres of prose, poetry and
drama every year, hinting that next year's contest would be waged among Hausa
poets.
The audience was entertained by a troupe from the Abuja Arts Council, who
performed a Fulani dance.