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Turjuman Award

Turjuman Award

In line with the directives of His Highness Sheikh Dr. Sultan bin Mohammed Al Qassimi, Supreme Council Member and Ruler of Sharjah, the award for translation and writing was launched to promote well-established international translations that rely on the human achievement in its cultural and intellectual aspects and use it as a foundation upon which to build the human civilization and build bridges that connect the east and the west. Such translations seek to support serious publishing work that is able to emphasize the role of the word and activate creative ideas that are capable of pushing the world civilization scene forward toward the desired integration.  

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Turjuman Award

General Terms & Conditions

    1. The Award is granted to translations of intellectual, cultural and creative publications that are based on or are inspired by Arab and Muslim civilization. 
    2. Competition on this Award is open to all Arab and international publishing houses that have foreign translations (in any of the world’s languages) from an original publication that is issued in Arabic in its first edition, provided that these translations are linked to the Award’s subject and importance. 
    3. The Award Administrative Office accepts translations published in hardcopy. 
    4. Each publishing house has the right to submit more than one publication to compete for the Award taking into consideration that only one work will receive the Award eventually. 
    5. Submissions have to be published and made available to the public between 2016 and 2026. 
    6. University theses (Master and PhD) will not be accepted. 
    7. The publishing house must submit a 500-word written summary in Arabic or the translation language that includes an introduction about the author, as well as the content and importance of the nominated book. 
    8. The Administrative Office and its legal representative hold full right to implement the necessary legal and moral actions should there be a violation to the terms of the Award or copyrights, or if there was a violation of scientific honesty in the writing and translation of any of the winning books. None of the Award’s office’s rights shall lapse with the passage of time. 
    9. Publishing houses shall be committed to submitting proof of copyrights and all of the documents pertaining to the legitimacy of the translation, publishing and circulation. 
    10. Send 4 hardcopies of the translated book and one Arabic copy (hardcopy or softcopy) for each work that wishes to participate in the Award. Please note that the participating works shall not be returned to their source. 
    11. Commit to the completion of all the data stated in the Award’s electronic form on the website: www.SIBF.com 
    12. The Award’s organizing body and the Administrative Office have the right to use whatever content and photos in the nominated and winning books to the extent it deems appropriate for pure and non-profit media and cultural purposes. 
    13. Participation in the Award implies acceptance of all the conditions and commitment to the arbitration results and refraining from appealing against the same in any way whatsoever. 
    14. Participation is open annually with the launch of Sharjah International Book Fair (SIBF) in November of every year. Submissions are accepted between then and end of August the following year. The winner is announced and awarded in the next edition of SIBF. 

How to Apply

Complete the electronic participation form via the official website of the Sharjah International Book Fair (www.sibf.com).Print the completed form and mail it to the Sharjah Book Authority address together with four printed copies of the translated book submitted for the award and one Arabic version copy of each work.

Mailing Address:

Sharjah Book Authority

Cultural Awards Department

Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Road – Al Zahia

Sharjah – United Arab Emirates

P.O. Box 73111

 +971 56 603 6623

logistics@sharjahbookfair.com

Participation Conditions

A specialized committee evaluates submissions based on:

Language strength.

Topic significance.

Value added by translation.

Accuracy in transfer between languages.

Precise translation of terms.

Knowledge of translated topics.

Adherence to scientific honesty.

Avoidance of grammar, style, or typing mistakes.

Turjuman Award

Objectives

Importance of the Award

This Award is the first of its kind on the international level. It is offered to both foreign translations and consequent transcribed writings. It primarily promotes specialized international publishing and encourages it to translate the best Arab and Islamic works and achievements so as to show the world the real image of Arabs and Muslims and their contribution to human civilization across many fields, knowledge, philosophy and applied and theoretical sciences. The award also honors the translated international accomplishments that are characterized by their emphasis on subjectivity and avoiding intolerance. Such works help create a real and effective convergence between people through the use of science, knowledge and culture. The Award emphasizes the Arabs’ and Muslims’ keenness to build their communication with the west and other nations on the exchange, promotion and honoring of culture.

Award Value

The total value of the prize is AED 1.4 million, of which AED 100,000 will be awarded to the translator of the winning book and AED 1.3 million will be allocated to the Arab and foreign publishers, as follows: 70% goes to the foreign publishing house that holds the translation rights for the winning book, and 30% goes to the Arab publishing house that holds the publishing rights for the first edition of the winning book.

Board Of Tustees

PROFESSOR ISABELLA CAMERA D’AFFLITTO

PROFESSOR ISABELLA CAMERA D’AFFLITTO

Honorary Professor — Sapienza University of Rome Professor Isabella Camera d’Afflitto is a former professor of contemporary Arabic literature at the University of Rome ‘La Sapienza’ and the University of Naples ‘L'Orientale’. She lectured at several European and Arab universities and wrote more than 200 academic publications and numerous books as an author, editor and translator. She was a member of the international jury for the UNESCO Sharjah Prize for Arabic Culture and a member of the jury for the International Prize for Arabic Fiction (Booker Prize 2011). She received the Mahmoud Darwish Prize (2023), the Sheikh Hamad Award for Translation and International Understanding (2018), and the Literary Award for Translation (Supreme Council of Culture), Cairo 2006.
PROFESSOR SOBHI BOUSTANI

PROFESSOR SOBHI BOUSTANI

Professor Emeritus — INALCO (Paris) Sobhi Boustani obtained his first doctorate in modern Arabic poetry from the Sorbonne University in Paris and a second doctorate from the University of Strasbourg in France. He taught at the Lebanese University before moving to France, where he gave courses on Arabic literature and translation. He is currently a retired professor emeritus at the National Institute for Oriental Languages and Civilisations (INALCO) in Paris. Alongside his career as an academic, he is a former member of the Institute's scientific council and former director of the Centre for Middle Eastern and Mediterranean Studies. He was also an elected member of the National Council of French Universities and a member and president of the European Association of Modern Arabic Literature. He published several studies on modern Arabic literature (poetry and prose) both in Arabic and in French.
PROFESSOR LUIS MIGUEL CAÑADA

PROFESSOR LUIS MIGUEL CAÑADA

Former Director of the Toledo School of Translation Luis Miguel P. Cañada is an academic who holds a PhD in Translation from the University of Malaga (Spain). He graduated from the Department of Semitic Studies at the University of Granada and was director of the Toledo School of Translators (University of Castilla-La Mancha, 2006-2017), where he has been teaching ‘Arabic Language’ and ‘Translation of Contemporary Arabic Literature’ since 1999. He also taught at the University of Baghdad (1989-1991) and the University of Tetouan (King Fahd School in Tangier, 1993-1997). He currently supervises programmes for the translation and publication of Arabic literature into Spanish at the Toledo School, which has produced more than 70 works so far. As a literary translator, he has published around 40 Arabic titles translated into Spanish by a number of authors, including Abdul Rahman Munif, Jabra Ibrahim Jabra, Badr Shaker Al-Sayyab, Muhammad Bennis, Murid Al-Barghouti, amongst others. He was a member of the jury for the National Translation Prize in Spain and the Al-Multaqa Prize in Kuwait.

Winners

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