Inside Nigeria’s N365 million Laureate Prize: The step-by-step guide to getting nominated

Nigeria's Federal Government has invested N365 million in a national competition to identify and reward exceptional research by tertiary students nationwide. Known as the Tertiary Institutions National Laureate Prize, the competition evaluates work at undergraduate, master's, and doctoral levels across six themes, with individual prizes of up to N100 million.

However, winning is not as straightforward as submitting a thesis online. The process involves several stages, including nominations through institutions, regional evaluation, and national judging. The prize is awarded to 18 national thematic laureates, with three of them becoming Star Prize winners. The Medicine and Health Sciences category carries special significance, named after Dr. Stella Adadevoh, who contained Nigeria's 2014 Ebola outbreak.

Participation is open to Nigerian students in accredited tertiary institutions, including universities, polytechnics, monotechnics, colleges of education, and military institutions. Each institution can submit up to 18 works per cycle, distributed across academic levels and themes. Entries are screened for research integrity, and plagiarism or misconduct can lead to disqualification.

To participate, students' work must be deposited in the National Student Publication Database under the NERD policy and assigned an NDN. While eligibility doesn't guarantee entry, an NDN is a prerequisite for consideration. Institutions must have a dedicated Laureate Committee to review and select the best work in each theme and level.

The selection is based on originality, methodology, national relevance, and overall quality. The final stage involves the National Committee, which assesses entries nationwide and declares winners, runners-up, or commendations. The scoring system rewards methodological soundness and real-world applicability, with 70% based on academic assessment and 30% on life impact, innovation, and commercialisation. Appeals are possible but limited, as the decision of the National Committee is final.