Sharjah (WAM)
The Etisalat Children’s Book Award, which is supervised by the Emirates Council on Books for Young People and sponsored by E&Emirates, attracted 330 entries from publishers from 21 countries in its 16th edition, compared to 323 nominations received for the award last year. Egypt topped first place in the number of entries with 83. participation, followed by the UAE with 74 entries, Jordan with 31 entries, Lebanon with 24 entries, Saudi Arabia with 23 entries, Canada came in sixth place with 16 entries, followed by Kuwait and Palestine with 12 entries each, then Iraq with 11 entries, then Oman with 10 entries, and Syria. 8 entries, Turkey 6 entries, Morocco 4 entries, 3 entries each for Finland and Spain, 2 entries each for Bahrain, France, Switzerland and the United Kingdom, in addition to one entry each for Qatar and Tunisia.
Five categories
Regarding the distribution of entries into the five categories of the award, the “Picture Book” category attracted 123 entries, followed by the “Early Childhood” category with 90 entries, then the “Young People’s Book” category, which received 49 entries, then the “Book with Chapters” category, with 42 entries. Finally, the “Book of Poetry” category, with 26 entries. The number of authors of books nominated to win the award in its 16th edition reached 213 authors from 24 countries, along with 200 illustrators from 27 countries, and 92 publishers from 21 countries.
Communicate and open up
Mohammed Al Amimi, Acting General Manager at E&Emirates, stressed the importance of expanding the geographical area of countries participating in the Etisalat Children’s Book Award in its 16th edition, which reflects its role in enhancing communication between those working in the children’s book industry and its contribution to motivating them to produce books. Distinctive, which is in line with the award’s vision to enhance communication between peoples, openness to cultures, and support creators in various fields.
Attract the child
For her part, Marwa Al Aqroubi, President of the UAE Council on Books for Young People, confirmed that the award receives more high-quality publications from publishers every year, as children’s and young adult books have become a major priority in their interests due to their desire to provide publications worthy of winning the award, and at the same time able to continue. Attracting Arab children to reading.
Shortlist
The names of the shortlist of books nominated to win the award in its 16th edition are scheduled to be announced during this October, and the names of the winners will be revealed during the activities of the 43rd edition of the Sharjah International Book Fair 2024, which will be held between 6 and 17 next November, after evaluating the nominations by a specialized jury. In each category, it includes experts in children’s literature from the UAE and abroad.
Awards
The total value of the Etisalat Children’s Book Award is 1.2 million dirhams, with 180,000 dirhams allocated to each of its five categories. This amount is divided equally between the author, illustrator, and publisher, at 60,000 dirhams for each winner, with the exception of the young adult category, whose financial prize is shared only by the author and publisher, at 90,000 dirhams. AED each. In addition, 300,000 dirhams were allocated to the “Warsha” training program.
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