How students, researchers can apply for N365m national laureate prize

The Federal Government has opened applications for the National Laureate Prize, an annual programme aimed at recognising exceptional academic research, innovation and intellectual excellence among students and researchers in Nigeria’s tertiary institutions.

Minister of Education, Tunji Alausa, announced the commencement of entries on Tuesday, disclosing that the programme has a total prize pool of N365 million.

Alausa said the initiative was established as part of the government’s efforts to promote academic excellence, encourage research and innovation, and provide national recognition for outstanding scholarly work.

The competition is open to students and researchers from accredited universities, polytechnics, monotechnics, colleges of education and other eligible tertiary institutions across the country.

According to the minister, submissions will be assessed under six thematic areas: science, engineering and technology; medicine and health sciences; arts and social sciences; agriculture; law; and teaching innovation.

The programme will operate across three academic levels — undergraduate, master’s and doctoral — with three national thematic laureates selected in each of the six fields at each level.

This will produce a total of 18 laureates.

Of the winners, three laureates will receive the star prizes, while other outstanding entrants will be recognised through awards in their respective thematic categories.

Eligible entries include undergraduate dissertations or recognised equivalents, master’s theses and doctoral theses, alongside equivalent research works produced in polytechnics, monotechnics, colleges of education and similar tertiary institutions.

The Ministry of Education said all nominated works must satisfy established requirements for research integrity and originality.

It further stated that each nominated work must first be deposited on the National Research and Development Portal (NERD) and assigned a valid national document number before it can qualify for consideration.

The Federal Government said the National Laureate Prize is designed to deepen the culture of research and innovation in Nigerian tertiary institutions while giving exceptional academic work wider national visibility.

Interested students and researchers are expected to access the official application portal and follow the prescribed guidelines to submit their entries.