The Qatar-based Sheikh Hamad Award for Translation and International Understanding announced the end of the first screening process for nominations submitted for the eighth edition of the reputed competition. Twenty-nine countries submitted nominations and Türkiye has the highest number of nominations, the award’s spokesperson Hanan Al Fayyad told Daily Sabah.
Al Fayyad revealed that the Steering Committee received this year's nominations from individuals and translation institutions from Qatar, Türkiye, Spain, Jordan the United Arab Emirates, Algeria and Saudi Arabia, in addition to Sudan, Somalia, Iraq, Kuwait, Germany, Morocco and the United Kingdom, as well as the United States, Italy, Tunisia, Niger, South Africa, the Sultanate of Oman, Syria, Palestine, France, Lebanon, Canada, the Netherlands Libya, Egypt, New Zealand, Romania, Indonesia, Tanzania and Kazakhstan.
She added that Türkiye ranked first among the countries with the highest nomination, followed by Egypt and Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Morocco, Iraq and Jordan. As for nationalities, the Turks presented the list of nominations ahead of the Egyptians, Saudis, Syrians, Iraqis and Jordanians.
About Turkish translators and their willingness to participate in the award, Al Fayyad praised the growing interest of Turks in Arabic culture in recent years, especially in light of the increase in the number of Arab communities in Türkiye, in addition to the growing awareness in academic and cultural circles of the importance of deepening knowledge of the other, especially since there is a common history between Türkiye and the Arab world.
She pointed out that the nominations herald that the process of human knowledge remains present and interest in this committee increases. The translation movement remains a living field and an uninterrupted bridge between peoples' civilizations.
She explained that the nominated works included works in various fields of human sciences, such as Islamic studies, literature, philosophy and history, and social and political sciences. The awards ceremony will be held on Jan. 29 in the Qatari capital Doha, on the sidelines of the Translation and Intercultural Problems Conference, which will be held between Jan. 28-Jan. 29.
At the awards ceremony, prizes worth $2 million will be distributed to recipients, $200,000 in each of the five categories. It is the second edition of awards where works translated from Arabic into Turkish and vice versa will also be awarded.
Regarding the choice of the Turkish language as a second language, Al Fayyad indicated the category was created due to the large number of translations between the two languages. She stressed that the award, which was established in 2015, seeks to honor translators and appreciate their role in strengthening the bonds of friendship and cooperation between the nations and peoples of the world, encouraging creativity, consolidating lofty ideals and spreading diversity, pluralism and openness, as well as the development of international understanding.
Other categories include translations from Arabic to English and English to Arabic. Achievement awards distributed at the ceremony will recognize translations from and to Arabic, from the languages of Bahasa, Kazakh, Romanian, Swahili and Vietnamese.