Sheikh Zayed Book Award Judges Commence Evaluation of 8th Edition Nominations

The Sheikh Zayed Book Award announced yesterday, the wrap up of its reading panels’ work following the closure of its nominations phase for the 8th Cycle of 2013/2014. The Award collected more than a 1,482 works across its nine categories, registering an increase of close to 12% over last year’s figure. “Young Author” topped the list with a share of 27% of total nominations received, followed by the “Literature” Category with 22%, and the category of “Best Contribution to the Development of Nations” coming third with 13%. Meanwhile, the “Literary and Art Criticism” was fourth with 10% of total nominations, closely followed by “Translation” with a share equating to 8% of total. The Award received varying number of nominations in the rest of its categories. According to Dr. Ali Bin Tamim, Secretary General of Sheikh Zayed Book Award, a total of 45 countries are represented in this year’s participations, including 20 countries from the Arab World; Egypt, Morocco, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, UAE, Lebanon , Syria, and Tunisia. As well as 25 foreign countries of which the highest nominations were from United Kingdom, United States, Germany, Russia, and Italy. With the wrap up of the reading panels’ work which extended from 14 to 17 November, the Sheikh Zayed Book Award will announce its longlists during the next few days. Judges will commence assessment and evaluation of filtered works across all categories which will extend through the coming three months. Each category has three judges who independently evaluate the nominations and submit their reports against a stringent, quantifiable scoring criterion to ensure the decision is truly reflective of their independent and expert views. The assessment results are then calculated for each category and collectively evaluated by the Scientific Committee for the Award. Consequently, the short-listed winners will be subject to the approval of the Award’s Board of Trustees. The Award’s Grand Ceremony, celebrating the winning achievements, will be held on the 4th of May 2014. The award recognizes cultural achievement across one of the broadest and most diverse areas of any cultural awards internationally, including: “Contribution to the Development of Nations”; “Children’s Literature” [including adolescents books]; “Young Author”; “Translation”; “Literature”; “Literary and Art Criticism”; “Arabic Culture in non-Arab language”; “Publishing and Technology”; and “Cultural Personality of the Year”.