Countdown-begins

Zayed Book Award winner in literature announced next Sunday Abu Dhabi, February 4, 2009- The advisory council of sheikh Zayed book award convened yesterday to discuss the evaluation results of its third round nominations and decide on the winners in all its nine categories. The announcement of winners will commence next Sunday by revealing the honored figures in two categories at a time, for the duration of five weeks. The first category winners to be announced are Literature and Children’s literature, followed by Translation and Arts, Publishing and Best Technology in the Field of Culture, Best Contribution to the Development of the Country and Young Author, and finally on March 8th the Cultural Personality of the Year winner will be revealed. Rashed Al Oraimi, commented “it was a stringent process to choose from the short-listed nominees; they all have significant contributions to the Arab culture and deserve to be honored”. After a three-month period of extensive evaluation and short-listing the judges of each award category submitted their results to the advisory council. Rashed Al Oraimi said “a group of distinguished regional and international cultural figures serve on nine separate selection committees, one for each award category. The selection committee members remain anonymous to maintain the independence and integrity of the selection process”. The advisory council includes prominent names from the Arab and international book industry; Ali Rashed Al-Noaimi and Mohammed Al Murr from United Arab Emirates, Mohammad Kafoud from Qatar, Carmen Ruiz Bravo from Spain, Abdullah Al Ghothami from Saudi Arabia, Wacini Laredj from Algeria, Radwan Al Sayyed from Lebanon, Salah Fadl from Egypt in addition to Rashed Al Oraimi, the Secretary General of the Award.