The Sawiris Foundation for Social Development announced the winners of the 16th Sawiris Cultural Award.
This Edition is considered the largest in the history of the award in terms of the number of submitted works.
A total of 1263 literary works were submitted to various fields of the award.
This year, 12 young and established writers received awards for their distinguished work in the fields including novel, short story, screenplay, playwriting, and literary criticism.
Dr. Iman Yahya won the best novel award – under the established writers’ contest – for her novel ‘Al-Zawga Al-Mexicia’ (The Mexican Wife), published by Dar Al-Shorouk.
Meanwhile, the award for best short story collection, written by an established writer, went to Samir El-Fil for his collection ‘Autobis 77’ (Bus Line 77) that was published by the Egyptian General Book Authority.
The award for best novel written by a young writer went to Ahmed Al-Fakharany for his novel ‘Bayasat Al-Shawam’ published by Dar Al-Ain. The same novel also won the translation award, which was added to the award’s branches this year in an attempt to encourage contemporary literary excellence and introduce creative young writers to readers outside the borders of the Arab region.
As for second-place in the young writers’ novel contest, the award went to Ahmed Al-Morsi for his novel ‘What Remains of the Sun’ published by Dar Al-Bashir.
The first-place prize for best short story collection made by a young writer went to Gilan Al-Shamsi for her short story collection ‘As if the story is missing’ published by Al-Ain Publishing House.
In second-place, Muhammad Faraj won with his short story collection ‘Long Term Plans’ published by Dar Al-Ain.
Regarding the best screenplay award, established writer Samar Taher won for her screenplay of the movie ‘Al-Nazeel’ (The Inmate), while Paula Tadros Thabet won the young writers’ contest for his screenplay of ‘Abdullah’.
In the field of playwriting, the first-place award went to Faisal Rizk for his play ‘Hakawy Al-Aragouz’ (Tales of the puppet), while second-place went to Mina Bebbawy for his play ‘Bernatanya’.
As for the award for best submitted work in the field of literary criticism, it was awarded ex aequo to Sameh Fayez for his book ‘Stories about Reading’ published by the Egyptian-Lebanese House and to Professor Abdel-Nasser Hilal for his book ‘The Visual Turn – from Text to Speech” published by the Egyptian General Book Authority.
In order to encourage young writers, financial rewards are also granted for the shortlisted nominated work.
Granted in the novel contest: ‘Random Arrangements’ by Dunya Kamal Al-Qalash, ‘Ahmar Larang’ (Blood Oranges) by Charles Akl, and ‘Camelia’s Ghosts’ By Nora Naji.
With regard to the short story collection, the grants went to: ‘Sleep Thieves’ by Amjad Al-Sabban, ‘Visions of the Holy City’ by Omaima Subhy, and ‘A Report on Al-Refaeia’ by Muhammad Al-Fuly.
In the screenplay category: ‘The Ghazala who fled the schoolyard’ by Ahmed Ihab Abdel-Warith, ‘Where Did Shaker Abaza Go?’ by Mahmoud Hassan Abdel-Alim, ‘Hamlet’ by Al-Sayed Abdel-Nabi, ‘Kilo 35’ by Mahmoud Ahmed Abd-Rahman.
source/content: english.ahram.org.eg
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