The results of the Egyptian State Awards were disappointing to some, reports Nevine El-Aref Following decision and indecision, the State Awards ceremony was held on Saturday despite rumours that it had been cancelled because of the revolution. This year the scene at the Supreme Council of Culture was a bit different. On its third floor gathered members of the SCC committee to select the 2011 state awards winners while journalists were in an adjacent meeting room following, for the first time, minute by minute the voting process via a large LCD screen. Emanating was a message from Minister of Culture Emad Abu Ghazi: "The SCC is creating a previously planed lobby to guarantee the winning over of special people as well as to highlight the transparency of the voting process." Abu Ghazi promised that starting next year the entire voting system would be improved as well as the committees who select the candidates. At 4pm sharp, the voting started with a call by Abu Ghazi for a minute of silence in commemoration of the victims who were killed during the January Revolution. Afterward, everything went as usual and after six hours of voting the winners of the State Awards in science, the arts, literature and social science were announced. There are four classes of awards -- the Nile Award (LE400,000) -- which was previously named Mubarak Award but changed after the revolution; the State Merit (LE200,000); State Distinction Awards (LE100,000) and Incentive Awards (LE50,000). This year, the names of 34 veteran scholars and artists emerged as winners in science, arts, literature and social science. Sixteen incentive, one state merit and two distinction awards were not given because no candidate received the required number of votes. The Nile Award, the most prestigious of all, saw the fiercest competition. The satirical writer Ahmed Ragab won the prize for literature, the arts award went to Ali Raafat, a professor of architecture at Cairo University, and the social sciences prize went to anthropologist and former expert at the UN International Labour Organisation Ahmed Zeid. The shortlist created controversy among the 61 SCC members, including Leila Takla, former chairwoman of the Shurah Council's Foreign Relations Committee, who was competing with Abu Zeid. Takla's nomination was affected by a report submitted to the prosecutor- general by translator Bashir El-Sebaai accusing her of accepting a bribe from the Lockheed Corporation. The accusation was written by British writer Timothy Mitchell in his book Rule of Experts: Egypt, Techno-Politics, Modernity. The book was translated into Arabic by the Egypt National Centre for Translation. Abu Zeid's winning was received with deafening applause. Ragab received the same treatment when he beat out well-known poet Ahmed Abdel-Moeti Hegazi, considered a member of the former regime. Raafat was vying with critic Salah Fadl while the third award was withheld. Authors Abdel-Wahab El-Aswani, Fouad Kandil and Shams Hagagi won the State Merit Awards in literature while Salwa El-Gharib, secretary-general of the Supreme Council of Universities, won in arts, as did actor and professor at the Arts Academy Mohamed Hanaa Abdel-Fatah. In social sciences, Ahmed Zakaria El-Shalaq, specialist in history of Egyptian thought, won the awards along with Mosaad Oweis, head of the Sport Professions Syndicate and Mohamed Sabri El-Sharnoubi, geography professor. The results of the awards were subject to severe criticism by some intellectuals. Writers Bahaa Taher asserted that some of the winners and candidates were constantly lobbying members to win their vote. "This is a process I cannot accept," said Taher. The sentiment was shared by legal expert Nour Farahat who called on his colleagues at the SCC to maintain the revolution's values of "justice and equality". Meanwhile, writer Khairi Shalabi could not hide his feelings. "I feel ashamed to participate in such a meeting which led to winners, most of whom are mentally retarded." The late author Edris Ali won the State Distinction Awards in literature, Middle Ages history professor Abul-Yosr Farag and philosophy professor Yomna El-Kholi won in social science. Theatre director Fahmi El-Kholi won in arts while the third was withheld. Thirty-two State Incentive Awards were also announced, stirring debate over the logic of granting an incentive award to an intellectual who passed away. Gaber Asfour, former culture minister, objected to giving the prize to the critic Abdel-Hakim Hassan, who passed away in 2009. Abu Ghazi, however, bowed to the jury's decision, explaining that the law does not exclude those no longer alive from winning the prize. Winds of change shifted the awards ceremony politically. Researcher Abdel-Khaleq Farouk, a member of the activist movement Kifaya, won. Ahmed Ibrahim won an award for his diwan Baynama Nasnaa Al-Sowar. Adel Esmat collected an award for his novel the Days of the Blue Windows (Ayam Al-Nawafez Al-Zarkaa). Azza Rashad won out of 62 candidates for her book Half Light ( Nisf Doaa ). Incentive awards for economic, legal and social studies were withheld. In cinematography, the 60-year-old Said El-Shimi and Ahmed Shawqi won the award in culture science. Critic Shaaban Youssef objected that the Incentive Awards be given to those above 50 "which goes against the meaning of such an award of encouragement". Alieddin Helal was media secretary of the now disbanded National Democratic Party and was behind the campaign to make Gamal Mubarak president. He apologised for the nomination. Psychiatrist Ahmed Okasha won the prize for science and scientific research, Mustafa El-Feki, recently appointed to the Shura Council, won the sociological studies award, poet Abdel-Rahman El-Abnoudi won for the literature and caricaturist Mustafa Hussein for the arts.
