Winners of the annual state awards were announced on Monday by Minister of Culture Farouk Hosni, reports Nevine El-Aref The Mubarak Awards, worth LE400,000, went to late director Saad Ardash, writer Ragaa El-Naqqash and social scientist Hamed Amar. State Merit Awards, worth LE200,000, went to novelist Ibrahim Abdel-Meguid, writer Osama Anwar Okasha, pianist Ramzi Yassa, sculptor Sobhi Guirguis and social scientists Ahmed Abdallah Zayed, Tohfa Handussa, Ahmed Abdel-Fattah Moussa and Lotfi Abdel-Wahab Yehia. The winners of State Excellence Awards, worth LE100,000, were Nasser Abdel-Moneim, Ahmed Sakhsoukh, Neamat El-Beheiri, Mohamed El-Sayed Selim, Mohamed Fathi Abdel-Hadi and Galal Ibrahim. Of 32 State Incentive Awards, worth LE10,000, 12 were withheld. The 20 prize winners include Mustafa Shaaban Gad for his book Atlas: The Study of Folkloric Heritage, Alla Khalil Hanafi for his performance in Don Quixote, Wessam Mohamed Suleiman for the scenario of Banat Wust Al-Balad (Downtown Girls), singer Mohamed Abul-Kheir for his performance in Miramar, Mohamed Abdel-Samie for a school complex project in Assiut, sculptor El-Sayed Mohamed Selim, poet Foulaz Abdallah El-Anwar for his collection Sayedat Al-Atlal Al-Shamaliya (Lady of the Northern Ruins), Mekkawi Said Fayed for the novel Taghrid Al-Bagaa (Swan Song), Sami Suleiman, Nabil Farouk, Ahmed Mohamed Fadl, social scientists Shaimaa Zolficar and Wael Shalabi and Khaled Azab, head of the press office at the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, and Ahmed Mansour, for their study of the Boulaq Print shop. Incentive Awards in the fields of economy and law went to Mohamed Safwat, Mohamed Sadeq and Talaat El-Demerdash. The award board also replaced late members Yunan Labib Rizk, Ragaa El-Naqqash and Abdel-Azim Ramadan. Former deans of the Faculty of Archaeology Ali Radwan and Gaballah Ali Gaballah, Alieddin Helal and Sabri El-Shabrawi now join the board. During the meeting, chaired by Hosni, head of the Arab and Egyptian Writers' Union Mohamed Salmawy suggested voting protocols be amended so that candidates who gain a majority of votes during the fifth and sixth rounds are awarded prizes. Currently nominees must secure a two thirds majority or else the prize is withheld. The suggestion is to be examined by a committee. A second committee, headed by Alieddin Helal, will also review the list of organisations qualified to nominate candidates following a request by Ismail Serageddin, chairman of the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, that the Alexandria library be included in their number.
