Nomination Deadline Extended for Sheikh Zayed Book Award 2012

New deadline is 15th October 2012 Abu Dhabi, September 23, 2012 – The closing date for nominations to Sheikh Zayed Book Award has been extended until mid-October 2012. Writers, intellectuals, publishers as well as young talents wishing to participate now have close to 3 weeks to submit their nominations to one of the Award’s nine categories. “Our decision comes in response to popular demand, aiming to provide a greater opportunity for those wishing to participate.” Dr. Ali Bin Tamim, the Sheikh Zayed Book Award’s Secretary General, explained. “We have received numerous requests to extend the deadline during the Arab-German seminar held in Berlin on the 13th of this month, especially for our newly-devised “Arabic Culture in other Languages” category”, he added. The prestigious and well-funded annual recognition has collected more than 800 nominations since last April to date in its 7th session currently in progress. This session has witnessed a number of amendments to the Award’s structure and categories, including the introduction of the new category for the written works in “Arabic Culture in Other Languages”, which is devised to honor all written works in English, Chinese and German, about the Arabic civilization and culture, in the fields of humanities, fine arts, and literature. Additionally, two of the award categories; “Best Technology in the Field of Culture” and “Publishing and Distribution” have been merged to form a new category entitled “Publishing and Cultural Technologies”. The new category will recognize publishers, distributors and projects of cultural production, whether in print, electronic, or audio-visual format. Moreover, two other categories were redefined; “Fine Arts” award has been expanded to include studies "Literary and Art Criticism" which comprises of written critiques and analytical studies in theatre, poetry, narratives, history of literature and literary theories. The “Literature” Award, on the other hand, represent creative works in specific. Excitement in the book industry is building up as the first reading panel assembly to evaluate the accepted nominations wrapped up earlier this month. The panel joined veteran figures, including Dr. Ali Bin Tamim, Award’s Secretary General and head of panel, Dr. Khalil Al Sheikh, Dr. ali al Ka’bi, Dr. Najwa Al Hosani, and Mr. Abdullah Majid, Award’s General Manager, in addition to Dr. Rasoul Moh’d Rasoul. A series of other meetings will be held for the reading panel following closure of nominations phase, scheduled towards end of October. And with the conclusion of the reading panel’s work, the Sheikh Zayed Book Award’s judging panels will commence assessment and evaluation of filtered works across all categories. Winners are scheduled for announcement On March 5, 2012, to be followed by the Award’s Grand Ceremony on the 25th of April 2013