Abu Dhabi, October 23, 2018: Following the conclusion of nominations for the 13th edition of Sheikh Zayed Book Award, the Reading Panels convened to filter out the submissions. A total of 1500 works were received this year from 35 countries; mostly from Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Jordan, Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, UAE, UK, USA, France, Germany and Australia.
Two categories witnessed the highest number of nominations; ‘Literature’ and ‘Young Author’ categories with 400 entries in the ‘Literature’ category and 355 in the ‘Young Author’ category consecutively.
The Reading Panels, who met over three days, include a group of experts and consultants in humanities: Professor Dr. Khalil Al Shaikh, member of the Scientific Committee of the Award from Jordan; Dr. Ali Al-Kaabi, poet, and literary critic Sultan Al Amimi from the UAE. The reading panels are chaired by Dr. Ali Bin Tamim, Secretary General of the Sheikh Zayed Book.
The nominated works are being evaluated in preparation for the announcement of long lists in the coming weeks which coincides with commencement of Judges’ evaluations as per the Award's criteria, in terms of knowledge specialization, commitment to a clear analysis and composition, aesthetics of language and style, information sufficiency, comprehensiveness, relevance, reliability of sources and references, academic integrity in quoting and documentation, originality and novelty in the subject matter
The Award's Scientific Body will evaluate the Judges’ reports and raise their recommendations to the Board of Trustees to select the winners.