Dr Hanan Al Fayadh, Media Consultant of the Award, at the press conference. Pic: Salim Matramkot / The Peninsula
DOHA: Nomination process for Sheikh Hamad Award for Translation and International Understanding (SHATIU) for 2018 worth $2m started yesterday.
Deadline for submissions of nomination is August 31, 2018, said Dr Hanan Al Fayadh, the Award’s Media Consultant at a press conference held at Katara yesterday. The Award aims at encouraging the culture of knowledge and dialogue, promoting Arab and Islamic culture, developing international understanding, and encouraging mature cross-cultural interaction between Arabic and other world languages through the medium of translation.
She said that the award categories include translation from Arabic into English with a prize of $200,000; translation from English into Arabic with a prize of $200,000; translation from Arabic into German with a prize of $200,000; translation from German into Arabic with a prize of $200,000; and an Achievement Award with a prize of $200,000.
“SHATIU is also accepting nominations for achievement awards in translation from and into the various languages,” said Al Fayadh.
She said that the value of each one of these awards is maximum $100,000 adding that the categories of achievement awards include translation from Arabic into Bosnian; translation from Bosnian into Arabic ; translation from Arabic into Italian; translation from Italian into Arabic; translation from Arabic into Japanese; translation from Japanese into Arabic; translation from Arabic into Russian; translation from Russian into Arabic; translation from Arabic into Swahili and translation from Swahili into Arabic.
She said that this year, SHATIU has added five new languages including Italian, Russian, Japanese, Bosnian and Swahili in a bid to enhance the interaction with Arab and other cultures of the world. She added that last year five eastern languages had been added including Chines, Japanese, Persian, Urdu and Malayalam.
She said that the total value of the award is $2m, divided into three categories: Translation Prizes ($800,000), Achievement Prizes ($1,000,000), and Prize for International Understanding ($200,000).
Speaking about creating awareness about the award, Al Faydh said that a team from the steering committee will be visiting the universities and academies of the trargeted countries to provide details in this regards.
Regarding the rules of nomination, she said that nominations at present are limited to the fields of the humanities and the social sciences. Submissions can be made by individuals or institutions (publishing houses, research centres, translation institutes, university departments). All nominees must be alive at the time of the nomination.
Only one translated work is accepted for nomination by individuals in the First Category. Institutions can nominate up to three translated works by three different translators. All nominated translations in the First Category must have been published in the five years prior to the announcement date of the Award.
Further details about the award, rules of submission and nomination forms are available on the website www.hta.qa/en
