Five young filmmakers are in contention to make history as the first winner of the Nigeria Prize for Creative Arts.

Their documentaries emerged from the inaugural competition after 98 submissions were reduced to an 11-film longlist and then to five finalists. Sponsored by Nigeria LNG Limited, the prize was launched in October 2025 with “Identity” as its first theme and is open to Nigerian filmmakers between 18 and 35.

The finalists are Peter Oghenetega Oke for Beyond Tarkwa Bay; Feranmi Abiola for Mara Mania; Ummi Bukar for No Food for Lazy Man; Abraham Ayodele Aiwuyuse for Okrika: Second Lives; and Jessica Chinyere for Women of Salt: The Resilience of Ebonyi’s Women.

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Taken together, the films travel across very different Nigerian realities.

In Lagos, Oke’s Beyond Tarkwa Bay follows a teenage surfer whose ambitions unfold against the disappearance of homes in his waterfront community. Aiwuyuse’s Okrika: Second Lives looks at the Rivers State town whose name has become synonymous with imported secondhand clothing, using the trade to examine the history and culture surrounding it.

In Ebonyi, Chinyere’s Women of Salt turns to women involved in traditional salt production, connecting their work to questions of livelihood and resilience. The documentary was previously screened at the 2024 Eko International Film Festival.

The other two finalists, Abiola’s Mara Mania and Bukar’s No Food for Lazy Man, complete a shortlist that ranges from coastal communities to informal commerce and inherited forms of work.

That breadth is central to the prize’s first edition. Rather than prescribing a particular documentary style, the “Identity” theme has produced films that ask what Nigeria looks like from the ground: through young people, workers, communities and traditions that are often absent from the country’s dominant national narratives.

The Nigeria Prize for Creative Arts is the latest addition to NLNG’s portfolio of cultural and intellectual prizes, joining the long-running Nigeria Prize for Literature and Nigeria Prize for Science. But its focus on emerging documentary filmmakers gives it a different role, placing visual storytelling at the centre of an effort to document contemporary Nigerian life.

For the five finalists, the competition now moves to its final stage. The inaugural winner will be announced at NLNG’s Grand Award Night in October 2026 and will receive the $20,000 prize, becoming the first recipient of the Nigeria Prize for Creative Arts.