Open call for submission to the Sheikh Zayed Awards (United Arab Emirates) 

The deadline for submitting candidacies is October 1, 2019. The potential benefactors of these awards, valued at one million dirhams in each category (€250,000) include writers, intellectuals and editors, as well as youth talents whose writings and translations are enriching to Arab culture, literature and society.

The Sheikh Zayed Book Awards are a series of prizes given out by the Department of Culture and Tourism of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi since 2007. They are bestowed in honor of the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, the Governor of Abu Dhabi and first President of the United Arab Emirates, for whom culture, education and science were the foundations of knowledge and the building blocks of the UAE community.

The purpose of these awards is to provide acknowledgment for the work of individuals who have made contributions to literature, the social sciences, culture and knowledge of the modern age, of both a national and international scope; to show appreciation for translations which promote dialogue between civilizations and nations; to promote creativity and research among youths in order to develop a cultural identity which links past and present in society; to honor those institutions, commissions, research centers and publishing firms from the Arab world which represent the human values of dialogue and tolerance, and to recognize the work done by non-Arab authors and researchers who positively promote Arab culture in their own languages.

The awards are divided into nine categories:
-    Contribution to the Development of Nations: works on economics, sociology, politics, law and theology which contribute to the development of nations.
-    Literature for Children and Teenagers: works of graphic, scientific and cultural literature aimed at children and adolescents, as well as fictional and simplified stories.
-    Young Author: works of science, literature, culture, fine arts and humanities, as well as published scientific theses whose author is under the age of 40.
-    Translation: translations performed with great linguistic rigor and accuracy, from the Arabic into another language, or vice versa.
-    Literature: Poetry, theatrical works or prose, including novels, short stories, biographies, plays, travel literature, and so forth.
-    Literature and Critical Art: works of a critical nature in the fields of art, cinema, music, theater, images, architecture, sculpture, archeology, folklore, history, literature and theory.
-    Arab Culture in Other Languages: works produced in languages other than Arabic but which promote Arab civilization and culture, including the humanities, fine arts, literature and history.
-    Publishing and Technology: publishing firms, distributors and research institutions which  promote culture through digital, visual and auditory media.
-    Cultural Personage of the Year: open to private individuals and legal entities to acknowledge a figure that contributes to the advancement of Arab culture, based on tolerance and peaceful co-existence.

The call will remain open until October 1. After this, a reading-based evaluation of the works will be completed, and then the announcement of the longlist of selected works. Following this process, there will be an evaluation by judges on a Scientific Committee and the shortlist of selected works will be announced. Finally, a team of highly renowned scientists will study the remaining works and choose the winners, who will be announced and receive the awards at a ceremony.

The winners from prior additions include one Spaniard, Pedro Martínez Montávez, one of the most prestigious Arabists in Europe, a professor at the University of Seville and the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid. He was awarded in the category of “Cultural Personage of the Year” in 2009.

Further information