Sheikh Zayed Book Award Scientific Committee Approves Shortlist for 14th Award Nominees

The Scientific Committee of the Sheikh Zayed Book Award has approved the shortlist of nominees for the Award’s 14th edition, following a series of meetings that took place from 13 to 15 February in Abu Dhabi.  The Scientific Committee sessions were held to review and examine the judging panel reports and recommendations for nominees across the Award's nine categories. 

The meetings were chaired by HE Dr. Ali bin Tamim, Chairman of the Abu Dhabi Arabic Language Authority and Secretary General of the Sheikh Zayed Book Award, in the presence of fellow committee members Dr. Khalil Al Shaikh from Jordan; Dr. Mohammad Bennis from Morocco; Iraqi-born Dr. Kadhim Jihad Hassan from France; Juergen Boos from Germany; Dr. Paula Santillan Grimm from Spain; researcher Dr. Allison McQuady Al Masri, who specialises in Middle Eastern Studies from Harvard University, USA; and author and scholar of linguistic studies, Sultan Al Umaimi, from the United Arab Emirates, to review the jury's reports, study and discuss their recommendations for all nine award categories. 

“The meetings of the Scientific Committee are held to examine the Sheikh Zayed Book Award judging panel's reports of the shortlisted award nominees, which was first launched to honour our late founding father Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan and his leading role in building a nation steeped in culture and creativity”. HE Dr. Ali Bin Tamim, Chairman of the Abu Dhabi Arabic Language Authority and Secretary General of Sheikh Zayed Book Award said. “The sessions follow very strict, transparent and objective standards, and represent the third phase in the evaluation process to agree on the final line-up of shortlisted nominees, to be announced in the coming weeks, in preparation for the announcement of the Award’s winners.”

Nominations have been put forward across the Award’s categories: Literature, Translation, Contribution to the Development of Nations, Arabic Culture in Other Languages, Children’s Literature, Literary and Art Criticism, Young Author, Publishing and Technology.

The Sheikh Zayed Book Award witnessed a remarkable increase in the participation rate for the year 2019/2020. A total of 1,900 nominations from 49 countries (22 Arab and 27 foreign countries) have been submitted for consideration for the 14th Sheikh Zayed Book Award shortlists across all categories. The final shortlists will be announced in February 2020.