CAIRO: One of the region’s most celebrated literary awards for Arabic children’s literature, the UAE-based Etisalat Award for Arabic Children’s Literature (Etisalat Award) was recently in Cairo, Egypt, to share its cultural vision with Egyptian and Arab publishers and media on the sidelines of its participation at the 49th annual Cairo International Book Fair.

The Etisalat Award is organised by the UAE Board on Books for Young People (UAEBBY) and sponsored by the Etisalat Group. Moderated by media figure, Mohammed Abdo Badawi, the session touched upon various aspects of Arabic children’s literature, the role of the Etisalat Award in recognising regional literary excellence, and general trends in the global children’s book market. 

Welcoming all of the session’s attendees, the UAEBBY President, Marwa Al Aqroubi, said,  “Being here in Cairo, one of the region’s cultural giants, makes us nostalgic about an exciting childhood smitten by the great authors of this country. Our generation has grown up reading Kamel Al Kilani and Abdel Wahab El Messiri, and comprehended the aesthetics of Arabic language and literature through Hafez Ibrahim’s and Ahmed Shawqi’s poems, and Naguib Mahfouz’s prose.”

“The Etisalat Award was launched in 2009 by Sheikha Bodour Al Qasimi, Founder and Patron of the UAEBBY, with the key theme ‘Nurture their Imagination… Encourage their Dreams’. The award’s ongoing objective is to support and encourage children’s books authors, illustrators and publishers to offer high quality books with quality content and illustrations. The award also aims to foster an environment that ignites and supports children’s imaginations and instill in them a love of reading.”

Eman Mohammed, Programs and Award Executive at the UAEBBY, listed the Award’s details, highlighting the many developments it has experienced since inception. First valued at Dhs1,000,000, and given to a single book in the first four editions, the Etisalat Award grew to feature five categories starting its fifth edition, which helped recognise all contributors to children’s literature – authors, illustrators and publishers. In 2017, it introduced the ‘Digital Book App of the Year’ category, taking the cumulative value of the Awards up to Dhs1,200,000.

Eman underscored that from 88 competing books in 2010, the number shot up to 145 entries last year – indicating an over 60 per cent  increase in the number of submitted titles. With 21 digital book applications competing in the recently introduced Digital Book App category, the total number of submissions at 166 last year, reflected an over 88.5per cent increase in the quantity of competing entities in eight years. 

Since its inception, a total of 99 books were shortlisted to win over the years, out of which 27 books have won the award, with Egypt coming in the second place after Lebanon in terms of number of submissions.

Among those who attended the session were Dr. Yasmine Motawy, Etisalat Award jury member and member of the Directors Board of the ‘Egyptian Board on Books for Young People; and Tamer Said, Etisalat Award jury member and Managing Director of Kalimat Group – the UAE’s first publisher dedicated solely to Arabic language publishing.