2013 Etisalat Arabic Children’s Literature Award shortlist announced

Etisalat Award for Arabic Children’s Literature.

The UAE Board on Books for Young People (UAEBBY) has approved the final shortlist of books nominated for the fifth edition of the Etisalat Award for Arabic Children’s Literature.

Winners of the Dh1 million award will be announced during the opening ceremony of the Sharjah International Book Fair (SIBF 2013), which is scheduled to take place on November 6. The final shortlist of the current edition is the first after the introduction of the Award’s new category structure, which includes children’s book of the year (ages 0 to 12) and Young Adult’s book of the year (ages 13–18), as well as Best Text, Best Illustration, and Best Production.

Marwa Obaid Al Aqroubi, president of the UAEBBY Executive Board, said that the shortlist, which was selected from 107 nominated entries, was finalised after several meetings and workshops conducted by the Award’s jury. The selection was based on the value, originality and quality of the product, while considering each book’s contribution to the Arabic children’s library and knowledge base.

Under the new category structure, the Dh1 million award will be distributed with Dh300,000 for the Children’s Book of the year, Dh200,000 for Young Adult Book of the year, and Dh300,000 for the Best Text, Best Illustration, and Best Production categories. Each amount will be distributed equally between the author, illustrator and publisher.