Literature” and “Literary and Art Criticism” leading the entries

The Sheikh Zayed Book Award continues to receive participations across all of its nine categories, recording a total of 150 nominations since May. “Literature” and “Literary and Art Criticism” categories are leading with the highest number of participations, while the entries for the other categories varied. The Sheikh Zayed Book Award will still be accepting nominations until end of September 2015. Applications can be downloaded online from the Award’s website www.zayedaward.com. Once completed and signed, the application forms should be submitted to the Sheikh Zayed Book Award Offices along with the Candidate's Resume, Passport copy, Personal photo, and five copies of the nominated work. For cultural personality of the year award, applicants should be nominated by academic, research and cultural institutions, by literary associations and universities or by three intellectually and culturally prominent figures. For the other eight categories, applicants are requested to fill in the Nomination Form in person. All nominated works must have been published in the last two years and shouldn’t be previously awarded by an international/ prominent Prize. The work must be written in Arabic, except for works nominated for the Translation Award (they could be translated either from or to Arabic), and the works nominated for “Arabic Culture in Other Languages” which  can be in English, Portuguese or French for the tenth session. With the wrap up of nominations phase, the reading panels will commence their activities for a period of three days to be followed by the Award’s judging panels work to assess and evaluate the filtered works across all categories. 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 in all eight categories (including the Arab Culture in non- Arabic languages category). The winners also receive a certificate of merit and a Gold Medal.