The eighth edition of the Etisalat Award for Arabic Children’s Literature is now open to accept submissions, with its organisers encouraging publishers, authors and illustrators of Arabic children’s and young people’s books from across the world to send in their entries before the end of August.

Organised by the UAE Board on Books for Young People (UAEBBY) and sponsored by Emirates Telecommunication Corporation (Etisalat), the Etisalat Award for Arabic Children’s Literature is worth a total of AED One million in its five categories. The winners of the eighth edition will be announced at the opening ceremony of the 35th edition of Sharjah International Book Fair, which runs from November 2-12, 2016, at Expo Centre Sharjah.

Aside from its monetary value, the Etisalat Award for Arabic Children’s Literature is recognised as the most important and prestigious accolade for children’s literature in the Arab World. Over its past seven editions it has successfully attracted titles from publishing houses run by Arab communitiesfrom around the world.

“We are delighted to announce that we are now able to start receiving submissions for the eighth edition of the Etisalat Award for Arabic Children’s Literature from authors, illustrators and publishers who have issued Arabic children’s titles in the past three years, or in the case of young adult literature,

in the past five years. They will be competing to win in the award’s five categories, which have been introduced to reward the very best creative talent and to inspire other literary artists to produce work of high merit. Ultimately, the award helps to bring up a generation of readers who have access to the best forms of knowledge, education and culture to elevate their lives now and in the future,” said Marwa Al Aqroubi, President of the UAEBBY Executivein the past five years. They will be competing to win in the award’s five categories, which have been introduced to reward the very best creative talent and to inspire other literary artists to produce work of high merit. Ultimately, the award helps to bring up a generation of readers who have access to the best forms of knowledge, education and culture to elevate their lives now and in the future,” said Marwa Al Aqroubi, President of the UAEBBY Executive Board.

Al Aqroubi invited those who wish to participate in the eighth edition of the Etisalat Award for Arabic Children’s Literature to visit the award’s official website: www.etisalataward.ae to learn more about eligibility criteria and conditions, pointing out that it is specifically designed for children’s and young people’s literature for age groups between 0-18 years old. She explained that the competition is open to all participants regardless of the country in which the title has been published, as long as the book is written in Arabic, is original and not translated and is of excellent literary and artistic standards.

The Etisalat Award for Arabic Children’s Literature is distributed in five categories as follows: ‘Children’s Book of the Year’ worth AED 300,000, to be distributed equally between the author, illustrator and publisher; ‘Young Adult Book of the Year’ worth AED 200,000, to be distributed equally between the author and publisher, and ‘Best Text’, ‘Best Illustration’ and ‘Best Production’ worth AED 100,000 each. AED 200,000 is dedicated to organising workshops to build Arabic people capacities in children’s literature writing and illustration.

The Etisalat Award for Arabic Children’s Literature was launched in 2009 by Sheikha Bodour bint Sultan Al Qasimi, Founder and Patron of UAEBBY. It aims to promote a culture of reading and instil a love of Arabic books within children by honouring the creative productions of authors, illustrators andpublishers in the children’s book industry. It functions to motivate them to produce innovative texts, productions and designs in order to create unique and high-quality Arabic children's books.