♣ Mohamed Abdallah Al-Mutawa, the Secretary General of the Sultan Bin Ali Al-Owais Cultural Foundation in Dubai, made a press statement announcing the winners of the 13th round of the Sultan Bin Ali Al-Owais Cultural Awards (2012-2013): Mohamed Ibrahim Abu Senna, Ahmed Etman, Al-Sayed Yassin, Nazih Abu Afsh and Mohamed Ezzeddin Al-Tazi, as well as Dar Al-Khaleej Printing and Publishing. Al-Mutawa said the jury committee selected the winners from among 1,379 candidates. He pointed out that the committee named poet Abu Senna as the winner of the Poetry Award in recognition of the high culture and refinement that characterise his collections, plays, prose works and critical studies. The Poetry Award was also granted to Abu Afsh for the wide variety of rhythms he skillfully employs. In the Short Story, Novel and Drama category, the award went to novelist Al-Tazi in recognition of his distinguished literary work, which reflects a special vision that sets his fiction apart from that of many Arab novelists. In his writings, Al-Tazi employs multiple narrative levels and points of view, adding secret glimpses of the worlds of his fictional characters. The committee selected Etman as the winner of the Literary and Critical Studies Award in recognition of his achievements in the field of literary criticism, and for his research on the cultural pillars on which Arab culture rests, especially the Greek and Latin legacies. In the Humanitarian and Futuristic Studies category, the award went to Yassin in recognition of his adherence to the scientific approach and to critical thinking, and his keenness to read into the reality of the Arab situation and forecast the future. His writings employ a critical approach and an encyclopaedic vision, and take into account internal variables and regional and international interactions. Yassin has helped establish a generation of researchers and experts who have been guided by his unconventional academic contributions. He is a great thinker who throughout his academic career, spanning almost half a century, has been keen on the advancement of his society and balancing the progress of Egyptian society with that of other Arab societies.
