After 25-year absence, 2018 State Awards presented by Egypt's culture minister

Reham El-Adawi , Sunday 23 Dec 2018

Culture Minister
A group photo of the Culture Minister (in the middle) and winners of the 2018 State Awards

Egypt’s State Awards were presented by Culture Minister Ines Abdel-Dayem at the Cairo Opera House’s Main Hall on 20 December after 25 years of absence.

The awards honoured Egypt's intellects and creators who have contributed to forming an important part of Egypt’s identity.

The celebration was attended by Secretary-General of the Supreme Council of Culture Said El-Masry, as well as a number of intellectuals, public figures and senior officials from the Ministry of Culture.

The ceremony began with the national anthem, followed by the screening of a documentary film on the activities of the Supreme Council of Culture and the State Awards, which dates back to 1958.  

This was followed by honouring the representatives of other Arab awards, including Valentina Kassisieh, chief executive officer of the Jordanian Abdel-Hamid Shoman Award, and Talib Refaai, director of the Kuwaiti Short Story Forum.

Abdel-Dayem expressed her happiness to be holding the celebration after many years of absence, and stressed that the Ministry of Culture is implementing a clear strategy aimed at building up the human being and achieving the pillars of sustainable development outlined by the Egyptian government to discover and sponsor talent and help creators win international awards.

Abdel-Dayem said that this is in addition to increasing the number of state awards and in cooperation with the Arab Awards Forum to build human capital capable of making progress.

She also stressed the need to celebrate the winners of the state awards in previous years who did not receive enough attention, and paid tribute to creators as one of the tools that strengthen Egypt's leadership on the regional and global levels.

Supreme Culture Secretary-General Said El-Masry expressed his pride in Egypt’s literati, intellectuals and scientists, describing them as the makers of progress and elements of Egypt's soft power, stressing that honouring them contributes to deepening the interest in arts, literature and social sciences among Egyptians.

The State Awards were given to the following winners:

-          The State Encouragement Award in the field of arts, drawing and painting was given to Fatima Abdel-Rahman for a drawing with dry pen, coloured wooden pens, and gold paper.

-          The Murals Prize was given to artist Mohamed Benawy.  

-          The Playing on a Wooden Wind Instrument Prize was given to Wessam Amin.

-          The choreography of The Performance of Motion Prize went to Meritte Michel for her show Everyone Evades from the Blue Lighter.

-          The Theatrical Performance Prize was given to Iman Imam.  

-          The Construction of Community Service, Project Design and Community Development prizes were given to Karim Ibrahim and Neven Aqil for upgrading the Azabat Khairaallah Area.

-          The Feature Film Production Prize was given to Hala Lotfy for her film Going out for the Day. 

-          In the field of literature, The Novel Prize was given to Hany Abdel-Mourid for his novel I am the World.

-          The Story Collection Prize went to Hussein Abdel-Rahim for his collection of stories A Third Person.  

-          Poet Abdel-Nasser Aalam won a prize for his work A House without Walls.

-          The Translation of a Scientific Book Award was given to Wageh Mohamed Mustafa.

-          The Contemporary Novel, Women's Issues in Feminist Literature, Theatrical Play, and Theatrical Presentation of Children prizes were all suspended.

-          In the field of social sciences, Sherif Talaat Metwally won a prize in the branch of history on religious fundamentalism around the world.

-          Ahmed Moussa won a prize in the branch of psychology.

-          Nagwa Awad won a prize in the branch of scientific culture for her book Towards Advanced Scientific Culture.   

-          In the field of economic and legal sciences, Gamal Salama Ali won a prize for the book Philosophy of Human Rights in a Changing World.

-          The Arab Creators Prize went to Syrian visual artist Youssef Abdalki.

-          Ramy Atta Siddiq won a prize for his book Muslim or Christian in the branch of anti-discrimination policies.   

-          The winners of the State Prize for Excellence in the Arts were musician Reda Bedair and Said Badr; and Mohamed Al-Abd and Ahmed Mourad won the prize in the field of literature.

-          Salah Salem, Elham Thohni and Abdel-Salam Abu Qahf won in the Social Sciences branch.

-          Saadia Bahader, Shebel Badran, Ahmed Refaat, Abdel-Aziz El-Gendy won in the field of social sciences.

-          The State Appreciation Award in Arts was given to actress Nadia Lotfi and composer Mohamed Sultan.

-          The Nile Prize in the Arts was given to Mustafa Al-Razzaz.

-          The Nile Prize in Literature was given to Salah Fadl.

-          The Nile Prize in Social Sciences was given to Murad Wahba.

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