Judging panel features experts in children's and young adult literature

Sharjah - The management of the Etisalat Award for Arabic Children’s Literature - one of the most important and prestigious awards of its kind in the Arab world, organised by the UAE Board on Books for Young People (UAEBBY) and sponsored by the Etisalat Group - has announced that it has appointed the judging panel for its ninth edition.

The identity of the jury, which is comprised of five experts from the children’s book industry, is being kept secret to ensure the integrity of the process of evaluating the submitted entries and the deliberations to decide the winners of the various categories. 

To ensure objectivity and credibility, the management of the Etisalat Award utilised qualitative selection criteria to appoint and approve its jury members. The criteria took into consideration the need for experience and diversity in the jury panel, which is made up of a publisher, an author, an illustrator, an academic, and an arbitral expert.

The jury members have already set the evaluation stipulations for the children’s categories (0-12 years), which state the exact requirements that the submitted entries should meet. The criteria focus on balancing the book’s appearance, design and quality, in addition to taking into account artistic elements, such as layout and illustrations.

The jury will also assess the quality of each submitted book’s cover, paper and bookbinding, the ease in opening it, the suitability of its size and weight for its target age group, the organisation and sequence of its pages and the clarity of its colours.

The general standards for the young adult category (13-18 years) include time and place, suspense elements, characters, plot and the quality of language used in the text in terms of vocabulary, composition, methods used and language compatibility with the target age group.

The jury will also take into consideration spelling mistakes and typographical errors, punctuation, Arabic grammar and avoidance of unnecessarily prolix text. The cover will be assessed for its inclusion of basic bibliographic information, such as the name of the author and illustrator, the book’s ISBN number, its classification number, year of publication and publishing house.

The Digital Book App of the Year category, which is intended for the most innovative book applications for children, accepts products for Android, iOS, Kindle, ePub3, game consoles and other electronic devices. Entries in this category are required to be submitted in the Arabic language. The entries should be designed for children and young adults aged 0-18 years, with the jury selecting the winner based on graphic quality, audio quality, artistic and technical excellence and/or informational value, with particular reference to overall publishing excellence.

The Etisalat Award’s management pointed out that the Award aims to nurture the children’s and young adult book industry, so submitted entries should further this objective. The entries should feature prestigious designs, meaningful content and an impactful title that reflects the book’s subject. The content should meet the needs and aspiration of the target age group and should deliver its contents using easy-to-access vocabulary.

The AED 1.2 million Etisalat Award is divided into six categories: ‘Children’s Book of the Year’ valued at AED 300,000, distributed equally between the author, illustrator and publisher; ‘Young Adult Book of the Year’ worth AED 200,000 distributed equally between the author and publisher; and four awards of AED 100,000 each for ‘Best Text’, ‘Best Illustration’, ‘Best Production’ and ‘Digital Book App of the Year’. 

AED 300,000 from the Award is dedicated to organising workshops to help develop the talent of promising Arab writers, illustrators and publishers through the ‘Warsha’ programme.

-Ends-

© Press Release 2017