Sheikh Zayed Book Award receives 150 nominations so far

The Sheikh Zayed Book Award has received a flood of 150 nominations across all of its nine categories since opening in May, with nominations in the Literature and Literary and Art Criticism categories leading the way in the award's varied list of its tenth cycle.

Nominations for the 2015-16 Sheikh Zayed Book Award remain open until the end of September, 2015, with application forms available for download from the award's website. Once completed and signed, the forms should be submitted to the Sheikh Zayed Book Award offices along with the candidate's resume, passport copy, personal photo and five copies of the nominated work.

Applicants for the Cultural Personality of the Year Award should be nominated by academic, research and cultural institutions, by literary associations and universities or by three intellectually and culturally prominent figures. For the other eight categories, applicants are requested to complete the nomination form in person.

All nominated works must have been published in the last two years and not previously awarded an international prize. The work must be written in Arabic, except for works nominated for the Translation Award (translated either from, or to, Arabic), and the works nominated for the newly devised Arabic Culture in Other Languages category, which can be in English, French or Portuguese for the tenth session.

Once the nomination phase closes on 30th of September, the reading panels will commence their activities for a three-day period, followed by the award's judging panels, which will assess and evaluate the filtered works across all categories.

The Sheikh Zayed Book Award's first edition was in 2007, and was introduced to promote scholarship and creativity in Arab culture. It carries cash prizes totalling Dh7 million - with Dh750, 000 per winner in all eight categories, including the Arab Culture in non-Arabic languages category. The winners also receive a certificate of merit and a gold medal.