Winners of Etisalat Award for Children’s Literature feted

SHARJAH: His Highness Dr Sheikh Sultan Bin Mohammed Al Qasimi, Supreme Council Member and Ruler of Sharjah, honoured the winners of the 10th Etisalat Award for Arabic Children’s Literature at the opening ceremony of the 37th edition of the Sharjah International Book Fair, held Wednesday at the Sharjah Expo Centre.

The award ceremony was attended by Sheikh Sultan Bin Mohammed Bin Sultan Al Qasimi, Crown Prince and Deputy Ruler of Sharjah, and Her Highness Sheikha Jawaher Bint Mohammed Al Qasimi, Wife of His Highness the Ruler of Sharjah and Chairperson of the Supreme Council for Family Affairs, SCFA, Sheikha Bodour Bint Sultan Al Qasimi, Founder and Patron of the UAE Board on Books for Young People, UAEBBY, Saleh Al Abdooli, Chief Executive Oficer of Etisalat Group, Abdul Aziz Taryam, CEO Advisor and General Manager of Etisalat Northern Emirates; Marwa Al Aqroubi, President of the UAEBBY Executive Board.

The winners of the tenth edition were from the UAE, Jordan, Palestine and Egypt, where they won the Dhs300,000 Etisalat Award for Arabic Children.

The terms and conditions state that the children’s books must be written in Arabic for children up to 12 years old, not translated, published a maximum of three years ago, printed and published in hard copy and not previously have won any local, Arab or international award.

For young adults from 13 to 18 years, the books must have been published a maximum of ive years ago.

The Digital Book App of the Year is open to all publishers and app developers for children and young adults up to 18 years of age and encompasses all forms of digital Arabic content available to readers as e-books, enhanced digital books and apps. The awards accept products for Android, IOS, Kindle, epub3, Game Consoles and other electronic devices to be speciied in the submission form.

The Etisalat Award for Arabic Children’s Literature is one of the most important awards aimed at providing premium books for children. A total of Dhs1.2 million will be distributed as follows: Children’s Book of the Year, Dhs300,000 to be distributed equally between the publisher, author and illustrator; Young Adult’s Book of the Year, Dhs200,000 to be distributed equally between the author and publisher; Best Text, Dhs100,000; Best Illustration, Dhs100,000; Best Production, Dhs100,000; and Digital Book App of the Year, Dhs100,000.

During the ceremony, His Highness, the Ruler of Sharjah, received a rare manuscript of the author Ahmed bin Hussein Al Jabri, which dates back to 1262 AH.