Literature was the leader among the rest of the Award categories with 62 participations (making up 23.6% out of total accepted) followed by the categories of the Young Author and Children's Literature which both recorded an increase -by 19.8% and 14.5% respectively- in the number of nominations compared to last year's.

The nominations for this year were pouring from all over the world. Those from the Arab World constituted a share of 94.3% of which 14.3% were from the GCC countries. The Award also received nominations from France, Sweden, Germany, Malta, and the United States which cumulatively made up 3% of total accepted nominations.

In commentary on the international participation, Mr. Al Oraimi said: "This Third session of the Award was privileged with participations from various countries worldwide, which underline the build up of international interest in the Award since its start in 2006 in addition to its growing significance among cultural and literary societies as an icon of celebrating creativity".

In terms of gender, nominations of females this year raised to 23% of total nominations while last year the share of female participants was16.7%. The females' participations of this year stood at almost double that of last year.

Mr. Al Oraimi continued by stressing the goals and objectives of the Sheikh Zayed Book Award and mentioned that the Award aims at celebrating the creativity of scholars and writers and reviving the elegance of the Arabic Literature on both regional and international levels. Mr. Al Oraimi added that the Award also capitalizes on the participations of young authors in the different categories of the Award as this is a promising "push-forward" to the creative production in the region.

The Sheikh Zayed Book Award is an independent award established in October 2006 in memory of Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan, who served as the ruler of Abu Dhabi and president of the UAE for over 30 years.

The Award accepts nominations from around the world in nine categories, namely: Best Contribution to the Development of the Country, Children's Literature, The Young Author Award, Translation, Literature, Fine Arts, The Best Technology in the Field of Culture, Publishing and Distribution, and the Cultural Personality of the year Award. The award comprises a total monetary prize value of seven million UAE Dirhams (around $ 2m).

For more details visit: http://www.zayedaward.com

Source: PRNEWSWIRE