Up to 220 Nigerian senior secondary school students entered for the inaugural Sabi Prize, worth ₦2.95 million ($2,165). Their task? To analyze a chapter from Buchi Emecheta’s The Joys of Motherhood. Read the top three essays, judged by Adachioma Ezeano, winner of the O. Henry Prize, and Esther Ifesinachi Okonkwo, author of The Tiny Things are Heavier.