The Sawiris Foundation for Social Development announced the winners of the 2011 Sawiris Cultural Award competition Monday in a ceremony at the Cairo Opera House that also honored late authors Khairy Shalaby, Salah Marei and Ibrahim Aslan.
In its seventh iteration, the competition recognizes new works in literature from both established and emerging authors, screenwriters and playwrights.
The senior novel award went to Ibrahim Abdel Meguid for “In Every Week There Is a Friday,” while Ahmed al-Khamissi won in the senior short story category for his collection “Canary.” Each of the writers will receive a monetary prize of LE100,000.
The senior screenplay award was withheld, as none of the submissions met the judges’ standards.
In the emerging writers' category, “Amber Panet” by novelist Mohamed Rabie got the first prize, and Mohamed Salah al-Azab got second place for his novel “Sidi Barani.” Azab also won the best screenplay award for emerging screenwriters for his adaptation of Ibrahim Aslan’s “Two-Bedroom Apartment.”
The short story awards for emerging writers went to Tarek Imam for “The Story of a Man: Whenever He Dreams of a City, He Dies in It,” and Sherif Saleh for “Love Triangle.”
Imad Motawi’s “Insomniacs” took the first prize for playwriting. The second prize was shared by Peter Alexander for “But It Spins,” and Hamdi Ali for “The Eternal Trap.”
Translated from Al-Masry Al-Youm
