Al Owais foundation picks four winners of cultural awards

Dubai:  The Sultan Bin Ali Al Owais Cultural Foundation has announced the names of winners of the 11th edition of its cultural award in four categories.

Abdul Hamid Ahmad, Secretary-General of the award, announced the names of the winners in the four categories of the award at a press conference yesterday.

The winners are Abdul Aziz Al Maqaleh, Al Taher Wattar, Abdul Salam Al Masdi and Jalal Ameen.

Ahmad said the panel of judges unanimously selected the four winners from among 1,183 applicants for their distinguished works and rich contribution to Arab culture.

Entries

The foundation received a large number of entries to the 11th session, with a total of 1,331 applications in all the five categories of the award namely: poetry, short story, novel and drama category, literary and critique studies, humanitarian and futuristic studies and the cultural and scientific achievement.

"The four winners represent elite of creative authors and intellectuals who served Arab culture and contributed throughout decades to establishing human and national values in the Arab society," Ahmad said.

He said the poetry prize went to Yemeni poet Abdul Aziz Al Maqaleh, whose poems represent an artistic model of modern poetry and contemporary creativeness by utilising heritage, national and human symbols in his poetry which will continue to inspire generations to come.

"This poet was selected out of 209 nominees in the poetry category because his poems deal with the problems and issues of mankind," Ahmad said.

The short story, novel and drama prize was given to Algerian writer Al Taher Wattar, and the literary and critique prize was given to Tunisian critic Abdul Salam Al Masdi who was selected from among 211 nominees.

Rich and varied

The prize for the hum-anitarian and futuristic studies category was given to Egyptian Jalal Ameen in recognition of his rich and varied contributions to economics, politics, community and culture. He was chosen from among 353 contestants.

Ahmad said the cultural and scientific achievement award will be announced soon and the winner will be selected from among 148 nominees.

A total of $120,000 (Dh440,400) is awarded to winners in each category. The prizes shared by more than one winner will be split among them.

The winners will receive their prizes at a ceremony to be held in March.