Adeoye Adetunji’s stop-motion film The Lion of Gwoza has won the ₦10 million grand prize at the inaugural National Orientation Agency (NOA) Animation Awards, presented on the closing night of the tenth Lagos International Festival of Animation (LIFANIMA). The festival ran from 20 to 22 October 2026 at the Alliance Française / Mike Adenuga Centre in Ikoyi.
The NOA awards carried a total prize pool of ₦22.5 million. Oluwatooniloba Odunuga took second place and ₦7.5 million for What Makes a Real Nigerian, while Oluwasegun Joseph Ogundeji won ₦5 million for third place with The Ones Who Don’t Stop. Together, the three prizes make up the full pool. Winners were chosen from more than 150 entries nationwide, submitted under the theme “Who is a Real Nigerian?”, according to coverage of the ceremony.
LIFANIMA also recognised winners in five categories. Ayodele Elegba’s Uniquely Me took Best 3D Animation, and Kainji, by Kaydina Esor and Damilola Solesi, won Best 2D Animation. Adetunji’s The Lion of Gwoza also won Best Stop Motion Animation, giving him both the top NOA prize and a category award. Oluwatoyin Adeosun’s Keep Nigeria Clean won Animation Commercial, and Temitope Falase’s New Beginning won Visual Effects.
Uniquely Me was produced by SPOOF Animation, the studio Elegba founded in 2016. The short explores individuality and the pressure to conform, and Elegba announced it in 2023 as a story he felt was best told in 3D. The studio previously won Best 2D Animation at LIFANIMA in 2023 for Ajaka: Lost in Rome.
The NOA was represented at the ceremony by David Akoji, its Director of Special Duties and States Operations, who stood in for Director General Malam Lanre Issa-Omilu. Akoji said animated storytelling can build civic awareness, national pride and good character among young people. The awards form part of a policy framework approved by the Federal Executive Council in 2024 to promote national values through creative media.
That framework includes a plan for a 70 per cent local content quota for television cartoons broadcast in Nigeria. Joint committees involving the National Broadcasting Commission are reportedly updating broadcasting codes and setting up monitoring systems to track compliance.
Festival director Muyiwa Kayode founded LIFANIMA in 2016. This year’s programme combined workshops, film screenings, executive panels, networking sessions and the awards ceremony. Innovation Day gave local developers of software and tools for creative studios a platform. A Stop Motion Animation Lab introduced teenagers to frame timing, armature building and character staging. A collaboration with the Centre for Black and African Arts and Civilisation (CBAAC) showcased its FESTAC ’77 at 50 initiative, which uses digital animation to revisit historical moments.
Policy discussions at the festival centred on what the industry needs next, including infrastructure, tax incentives, co-production funds and public-private partnerships. Participants framed the coming decade as one of moving from building a platform to building a self-sustaining animation industry.
Sources:
- Beyond ₦10 Million: How The Lion of Gwoza and LIFANIMA 2026 Are Rewriting Nigeria’s Storytelling Playbook
- SPOOF Animation’s Uniquely Me Wins Best 3D Animation at LIFANIMA 2026
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