Sawiris Cultural Award Round 16

Winners Announcement

Press Release

Sawiris Foundation for Social Development Announces the winners of the Sawiris Cultural Award Edition 16

Cairo – Friday, May 21, 2021

Sawiris Foundation for Social Development announces the winners of 16th Sawiris Cultural Award. This Edition is considered the largest in the history of the award in terms of the number of submitted works: total of 1263 literary works submitted to various fields of the award. This year, 12 young and established writers received awards for their distinguished work in the fields of the 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-Mexicya - "The Mexican Wife" published by Dar Al-Shorouk, while the award for the best short-story collection written by an established writer went to Mr. Samir El-Fil for his collection Autobis 77 - "Bus Line 77" published by the Egyptian General Book Authority.

The award of the best novel written by a young writer went to Mr. Ahmed Al-Fakharani 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 young creative writers to readers outside the borders of the Arab region. The literary award includes translating the winning novel into English, covering all contracting costs with a publishing house for translating, printing, and publishing of the novel.

The second-place of young writers’ novel contest was awarded to Mr. Ahmed Al-Morsi for his novel "What Remains of the Sun" published by Dar Al-Bashir.

The first-place award for the best short story collection made by a young writer went to Ms. Gilan Al-Shamsi for the short-story collection "As if the story is missing" published by Al-Ain Publishing House, while Mr. Muhammad Faraj won the second-place award for the story collection "Long Term Plans" published by Dar Al Ain.

Regarding the best screenplay award, Ms. Samar Taher won the established writer contest for her screenplay of the movie Al-Nazeel - "The Inmate", and Mr. Paula Tadros Thabet won the young writers contest for his screenplay of "Abdullah".

In the field of playwriting, the first-place award went to Mr. Faisal Rizk for the play Hakawy Al-Aragouz - “Tales of the puppet”, while the second-place award was given to Mr. Mina Bebbawy for the play “Bernatanya”.

As for the award of the best-submitted work in the field of literary criticism, it was awarded ex aequo to Mr. Sameh Fayez for the book "Stories about Reading" published by the Egyptian Lebanese House, and to Prof. Dr. 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 shortlisted nominated works as follows: 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 regards to the short-story collection, the grants went to: “Sleep Thieves” by Amjad Al-Sabban, “Visions of the Holy City” by Omaima Subhi, and “A Report on Al-Refaeia” by Muhammad Al-Fuli. In the screenplay branch: “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.

This year, six jury committees of prominent writers, filmmakers, critics, and drama professors in Egypt participated in the evaluation of the submitted works and selection of the winners.

Literature Jury (Section One - Established Writers): Prof. Dr. Rania Fathy (Committee Rapporteur), Prof. Dr. Hussein Hammouda, writer and novelist Mr. Subhi Moussa, writer and journalist Ms. Karima Kamal, and writer and novelist Ms. Mansoura Ezz El-Din.

Literature Jury (Section Two - Young Writers): Prof. Dr. Hala Kamal (Committee Rapporteur), writer and novelist Dr. Reem Bassiouni, writer and novelist Dr. Sahar Al-Moji, writer and journalist Mr. Muhammad Shair, and writer and journalist Mr. Hisham Aslan.

Screenplay Jury (First Branch - Senior Writers): Director and producer Ms. Marianne Khoury (Committee Rapporteur), film director Dr. Ahmed Maher, film director Dr. Hassan Issa, Prof. Dr. Salma Mubarak, and film critic Mr. Issam Zakaria.

Screenplay Jury (Second branch - Young Writers): film director Ms. Hala Jalal (Committee Rapporteur), film director Mr. Ahmed Fawzi Saleh, Prof. Dr. Ashraf Rajeh, film director Mr. Amir Ramses, and screenwriter Ms. Maryam Naoum.

Playwriting Jury: Theatre director Mr. Hassan Al-Greetly (Committee Rapporteur), Prof. Dr. Amal Mazhar, Prof. Dr. Dalia Al-Shayal, Professor Dr. Dina Amin, and theatre director Mr. Tariq Al-Douairi.

Literary Criticism Jury: Prof. Dr. Faten Morsi (Committee Rapporteur), Prof. Dr. Sahar Abdel Hakim, Prof. Dr. Mohamed Badawi, Prof. Dr. Hoda Ayyad, and Prof. Dr. Walid Al-Hamamsi.

Last but not least, the Board of Trustees of the Sawiris Cultural Award congratulates all the writers who have been awarded this year and thanks the members of the jury committees for the effort and time. We also as extend our thanks to all the creators who were keen to apply for the award in its 16th round, wishing them all success in the upcoming rounds.

To download the ooklet of the 16th Edition, kindly click here