The Sawiris Foundation for Social Development (SFSD) announced that the 16th annual ceremony of the Sawiris Cultural Awards will take place on Friday 21 May 2021. 

The ceremony will be held at the Fountain Theatre, Cairo Opera House, in the presence of public figures and a number of artists and intellectuals, with a commitment to take all measures of social distancing to ensure the safety of attendees. 

The ceremony was scheduled to take place last January  and was postponed due to the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Board of Trustees of the Sawiris Cultural Award announced the shortlists of nominated established writers in all fields of the award.  The shortlisted nominees for the best novel created by established writers are ‘Hisn Al-Turab’ (The Sand Fortress) by Ahmed Abdel-Lattif, ‘Bayt Al-Qibteya’ (House of the Copt) by Ashraf El-Achmawi, ‘Al Zawga Al-Mexicya’ (The Mexican Wife) by Iman Yehia, ‘Ghoyom Frenseya’ (French Clouds) by Doha Assy, ‘Ganaza Gadidia le Emad Hamdy’ (New Funeral for Emad Hamdy) by Waheed Al-Taweela, and 'Kimya’ (Chemistry) by Waleed Alaa El-Din.

The shortlist for the best short story collections includes ‘Assirb’ (The Swarm) by Iman Sanad, ‘Autobis 77’ (Bus Line 77) by Samir El-Fil, ‘Solo Al-Khalifa’ (The Caliphate's Solo) by Sherif Abdel-Meguied, ‘Al-Amira Warragol Min Al-Amma’ (The Princess and the Commoner) by Mohamed Ibrahim Taha, and ‘Kan Yama Kan’ (Once Upon a Time) by Mohammed Abdel-Naby.

The best screenplays shortlist includes ‘B19’ by Ahmed Abullah, ‘Al-Nazeel’ (The Inmate) by Samar Taher,

Hobot fil Dawra Al-Damaweya’ (Circulatory Collapse) by Mohamed El Shamma, and ‘El-Matlook’ (The Freed) by Yasser Naim.

The best playwriting shortlist includes ‘Wadaan Noter-dame’ (Farewell Notre-dame) by Khaled Hassouna, ‘Kabare Othmanly’ (Ottoman Cabaret) by El-Sayed Ibrahim,

Hakawy Al-Aragouz (Tales of the puppet) by Faisal Rezk, ‘Bernatanya’ by Mina Bebbawy, and ‘Fatat El-Metro’ (The Metro Girl) by Hany Mostafa Qadry.

The shortlist of the literary critics includes ‘The Narration Mirrors’ by Ahmed Adel El-Qadaby, ‘Stories about Reading’ by Sameh Fayez, ‘The Visual Turn from Text to Speech’ by Abdel-Nasser Helal, ‘Text formats and covariant verbs’ by Emad Hassib, ‘Al-iltifat Albasary Min Al-Nas Ela El-Khittab’ (From text to discourse) by Abdel-Nasser Helal, and ‘Al-Ansaq Al-Naseya W Fi'l Al-Taghayour’ (The Textual contexts) by Emad Hassieb.

Sawiris Foundation announced also the shortlist of young writers in December 2020. 

The nominees for the best novel included ‘Bayasat Al-Shawam’ by Ahmed El-Fakharany, ‘What Remains of the Sun’ by Ahmed Al-Morsy, ‘Random Arrangements’ by Donia Kamal El-Kalash, ‘Ahamr Lareng’ (Blood Oranges) by Charles Akl, and ‘Camelia's Ghosts’ by Nora Nagy. 

The shortlist for the best short story collections included ‘Sleep Thieves’ by Amgad Al-Sabban, ‘Visions of the Holy City’ by Omaima Sobhi, ‘As If the Story Is Missing’ by Gilan Al-Shamsy, ‘Long-term Plans’ by Muhammad Farag, and ‘A Report on Al-Refaeia’ by Muhammad Al-Fouly.

Best scenario shortlist nominations are ‘Al-Ghazalat Alty Farat men Fena' Al-Madrsa’ by Ahmed Ehab Abd Al-Warith, ‘Abdullah’ by Paula Tadros Thabit, ‘Where Did Shakir Abaza Go?’ by Mahmoud Hassan Abdel-Alim, ‘Hamlet’ by Sayed Abd El-Nabi, and ‘Kilo 35’ by Mahmoud Ahmed Abdel Rahman.

This year, the competition received 1263 literary works across various categories. They were evaluated by six independent judging committees consisting of well-known Egyptian writers and literary experts.