Okechukwu Uwaezuoke
“It had to be her!”
These phrases may have been echoing in the minds of many cognoscenti that Saturday (October 31) night time. Indeed, just a few might even have exchanged realizing glances when Bilikisu Oyiza Shuaibu was introduced as the winner of the $2,000 Elder Okay.U. Kalu Prize for Young Artist of the Year, the headline award of the 2026 Life in My City Art Festival (LIMCAF). Her profitable work, “Mai Kisto: A Million Tales”, had clearly caught the fancy of many at the grand finale exhibition, held at the International Conference Centre of the Institute of Management and Technology (IMT), Enugu.
As it turned out, there was little to seek out fault with in the work. Shuaibu had brilliantly and ingeniously used beads and string to conjure a picture of a magnificence salon, with a number of ladies having their hair finished. Made with supplies that may hitherto have appeared uncommon in an artist’s studio, her entry deserved the grand prize and the plaudits it obtained.
Really, it’s moderately tempting to attract parallels between Shuaibu’s experiences and these of Segun Victor Owolabi, the 2025 grand prize winner, who has additionally skilled LIMCAF’s constructive influence exterior the competitors. Both have benefitted from LIMCAF’s pageant residency programme, which gave them the alternative to exhibit and promote their works at the Amadeos Business Summit. They additionally shared the predilection for uncommon mediums of expression. In view of the above, it may confidently be affirmed that LIMCAF’s off-competition actions are a part of a long-term technique to find up-and-coming artistes and take them to the subsequent stage.
The pageant’s 2026 version was, in the meantime, not with out its fair proportion of irony. While its theme, Open Letter, invited artists to speak their ideas and issues to the world, the jury discovered that not everybody had taken the name for originality to coronary heart.
Back to the grand prize. While it was undoubtedly the largest reward of the day, a number of different recognitions had been additionally introduced. Kayode Oluwapelumi, representing the Calabar/Uyo centre, obtained the Capt. Everest Nnaji Prize for Best Painting for his work, “Open World: Where Everything Grows.” In the Textile/Fashion Art class, Victoria Oluwadamilola Adewole of Abuja emerged winner together with her entry, “To The Wounds That Refuse to Heal.” The Best Sculpture/Installation Art prize went to Gushi Clinton Data of Zaria for his work, “How I Play My Part.” The Most Creative Female Artiste award was gained by Praise Edward of Lagos for her work, “Between The Lines of Inertia.” Last however not least, the Artists Living with Disability award went to Taiwo Iyamu Shileola of Ondo for his work, “Open Letter to the Mind.”
These artists, alongside Shuaibu, had been included in the two-week, all-expenses-paid journey to Dakar, Senegal, sponsored by El Anatsui. It was a good-looking incentive, though the prospect of spending a fortnight in Dakar would in all probability have made even the much less adventurous finalists rethink their journey plans.
Still on the prizes, the Zaria Centre took the Chinelo Chime Prize for Best Photography with Success Emeka’s “The Tomorrow We Might Never See”. Obeka Simon Edoh of the Jalingo Centre obtained the Tayo Adenaike Prize for Best Watercolour for “Breaking Chains, Not Spirits”. Chimmuanya Onuzulike of the Enugu Centre claimed the Best Ceramics award with “Extraction”, whereas John Ojo of the Abuja Centre took the Best Drawing prize with “Many Good Heads”. The Best Graphics/Digital Art/Video award went to Jacob Onyebuchi Onu of the Enugu Centre for “Life”.
Other endowed prizes went to Godwin Ejike Ugwuagbo, whose “The People’s Manifesto” earned him the Justice Aniagolu Prize for Originality; Hannah Success Egba of Auchi, whose entry, “Prime”, clinched the Pius Okigbo Prize for Technical Proficiency; and Ruth Ben of Calabar/Uyo, whose “The Rat Race” took the Mfom Usoro Prize for Best Entry from Uyo Centre. Louis Ifeanyi Igwegbe obtained the Vin Martin Ilo Prize for “Every Feeling Leaves A Mark”, whereas Hosea Timothy Dakas claimed the Chike Obeagu Prize for Best Collage with “A Letter Unread”.
Additionally, Daniel Ogbodo of Enugu gained the Kanyeyachukwu Tagbo-Okeke Prize for Best Entry by a Special Needs Artist with “Residue of Time”. Augustine Martin Ebuka’s “Green-White-Green Like Babel” earned him the Stephen Bezalel Prize, whereas Victor Ishaya obtained the Agoreyo Armstrong Prize for Best Entry with “Que Sera, Sera”.
For a contest that lined so far as Lagos and Abuja, by way of Jalingo, Zaria, Enugu, Jos, Ondo, Auchi, Ibadan, and Calabar/Uyo, recognition of this kind, together with a rating of comfort prizes, was not at all insignificant. It was a reminder that the rising inventive energies in the nation aren’t positioned solely in the main cities. LIMCAF’s regional community has little question been saved busy.
The activity of assessing the 100 finalist works, in the meantime, fell to a jury chaired by Dr Chike Chinazom Obeagu, with Dr Talatu Adiwu Onkala, Prof Frank Ugiomoh, Ugochukwu-Smooth Nzewi, PhD, Bella Anne C. Ndubuisi and Dotun Popoola as members. Beyond visible attraction, the jury thought of how nicely the works interpreted the theme, the artists’ dealing with of their chosen supplies, the high quality of end and presentation, and the originality of their expression.
Interestingly, the jury’s report dated October 30, 2026, described a few of the entries as “energetic” and “indicative of imaginative thought process.” It was these remarks that distinguished the report and captured the spirit of originality and risk-taking in the exploratory use of unconventional supplies.
While some concepts and works raised originality issues, some entries had been decided to have excessive potential, regardless of flawed or insufficient execution. Of better concern was the tendency of some members to mimic and comply with the latest fads and “winning” kinds of earlier LIMCAF recipients.
Beyond the prize listing, this 12 months’s competitors has a extra enduring message to artists. Artists are inspired to make works that specific their preoccupation, as a substitute of being a surrogate for others. From the word of the jury, LIMCAF 2027, themed Emerging Frontiers appears set to consolidate its attraction to artists.
