The Steering Committee for the Sheikh Hamad Award for Translation and International Understanding has announced the opening for candidacy and nomination for the 2020 session starting from February 15, 2020 until June 30.
Continuing to enhance communication between Arab and different cultures of the world, the award directed its attention this season (2020) to choosing the Persian language as a second major language besides English, and choosing five new languages in the achievement category, which are: Pashto, Bengali, Swedish, Korean and Hausa.
In recognition of the role of translation in spreading peace and disseminating knowledge, and the role of translators in bringing cultures closer, the Sheikh Hamad Award for Translation and International Understanding was established in the Qatari capital, Doha, in 2015 as a global award supervised by a board of trustees, a steering committee, and independent arbitration committees.
In a world divided by divisions - as we see today - the role of translation is a bridge of understanding between peoples and a means of cross-fertilization of cultures and an opportunity to know where we got in the culture of the other, as the translator's message becomes more important in times of conflict, as translation becomes a common language in which misunderstanding and boundaries fade. Illusion that has long been built by self-sufficiency and the search for opponents.
Award categories
From the House of Wisdom in Baghdad to the Al-Alsun School in Egypt, translation was the window of Arab culture to the world through which knowledge sought wherever it existed, so the types of books were translated into Arabic in various fields, from the wisdom of India and the legacy of Persia in the east to the philosophy of Greece in the west, and the march of translation in our Arab culture was marked And Islamism by encouraging translators to celebrate and acknowledge their important knowledge role.
The total value of the award is two million dollars, and it is divided into three categories. The first: Translation awards in the two main languages (single books) include translation from Arabic to English and vice versa, and from Arabic to another foreign language and vice versa, by two hundred thousand dollars for each of the four awards, followed by The achievement award in the two main languages is $ 200,000 for each winner.
Finally, the achievement award in the five selected languages, and includes translation between Arabic, Pashto, Bengali, Swedish, Korean, Hausa, and vice versa, by one hundred thousand dollars for each of the ten awards within this category.
In 2017, the circle of the Sheikh Hamad Award for Translation and International Understanding expanded, adding a new category, the Achievement Award in five languages, chosen every year, in recognition of the achievements of translation from and into Arabic in the five languages.
Since its first season, the award has taken upon itself to encourage translation from and into Arabic in more than one language, adopting an international language every year in addition to the English language, so she chose the Turkish language in the first year, then the Spanish in the second year, the French in the third year, the German for the fourth season, and she was chosen as Russian For the fifth season.
Award management
The Prize Board of Trustees consists of five to ten members, who are chosen from multiple nationalities for a period of two years renewable. The Council provides advice and advice, and contributes to the selection of foreign languages designated for the award each year, and participates in evaluating the administrative and scientific performance of the award.
The Steering Committee undertakes the tasks of overseeing the award’s work and ensuring its transparency, and completely separating the management’s operations from selecting, judging and awarding nominated works, and none of the members of the Board of Trustees, Arbitration Committees, or the Steering Committee can run for the award.
Prizes are awarded according to the recommendations of independent international arbitration committees chosen by the Steering Committee of the award in consultation with the Board of Trustees, and the number of members of each committee may be increased or decreased as needed, or the use of arbitrators with specific competencies to evaluate the work in their areas of competence.