The Sheikh Zayed Book Award announced its winners for this year (2014 – 2015) which marks the Award’s 9th session. The announcement of winners came after extensive discussions between the Award’s Board of Trustees and the Scientific Committee of the results submitted by the judging panels across the Award’s Categories. The winners are;
First: The ‘Literature’ Award
Majaneen bait lahem (The fools of Bethlehem) a novel by Ossama Alaysa from Palestine, published by Nofal- Hachette Antoine (2013).
Second: ‘Translation’ Award
Naguib Mahfouz’s Cairo Trilogy (Palace Walk, Palace of Desire and Sugar Street) translated to Japanese language from Arabic by Hanawa Haruo from Japan, and published by Kokusho Kankokai (2013)
Third: ‘Arab Culture in Other Languages’ Award
Arabian-Naito to Nihon-Jin (The Arabian Nights and the Japanese) by Sugita Hideaki from Japan, published by Iwanami Shoten (2012)
Fourth: ‘Publishing and Technology’ Award
Arab Scientific Publishers Inc. from Lebanon
The “Cultural Personality of the Year” award will be announced during a press conference in the following weeks. For the awards of “Literary and Art Criticism”, “Young Author” and “Contribution to the Development of Nations” and “Children’s Literature” categories, were withheld for this year as nominations did not meet the Award’s criteria for winning.
The Sheikh Zayed Book Award’s first installment was in 2007, intended to promote scholarship and creativity in Arab culture. It carries cash prizes totaling Dhs7 million – with Dh750, 000 per winner (approx. USD 200, 000.00) in all eight categories. , in addition to One million Dirhams for the winner in “Cultural personality of the Year”. The winners also receive a certificate of merit and a Gold Medal. It is also worth mentioning the Awards will be presented to winners in Abu Dhabi, UAE in May during the Abu Dhabi International Book Fair 2015.
