عربي English Türkçe اردو فارسى
Logo
Latest News
Culture

Writers Invited to Submit Works, Compete for Saudi Arabia’s Golden Pen Award

The winning scripts may be made into movies by GEA
The winning scripts may be made into movies by GEA
TT
TT

Writers Invited to Submit Works, Compete for Saudi Arabia’s Golden Pen Award

The winning scripts may be made into movies by GEA
The winning scripts may be made into movies by GEA

Chairman of Saudi Arabia’s General Entertainment Authority (GEA) Turki bin Abdulmohsen Alalshikh has announced that Arabic-speaking writers may start submitting their works to compete for the Golden Pen Award, granted for the most influential literary work.

The winning scripts may be made into movies by GEA, Alalshikh said Sunday.

Applications for the award, sponsored by Minister of Culture Prince Badr bin Abdullah bin Farhan, will be received until September 30.

A first list will be announced on November 30, and the shortlist on December 30. The awards will be distributed at a ceremony scheduled to take place in February that is expected to draw an elite group of writers, intellectuals, filmmakers and actors.
The six award categories are: The grand prizes, the novel, the screenplay, the best translated novel, the best Arab publisher, and the audience award, with a total prize value of $740,000.
For each of the grand prizes and screenplay categories, the first-place prizes will be $100,000 and the production of a movie, the second-place prizes will be $50,000 and the production of a movie, while the third-place prizes will be $30,000.

As for the novel category, there will be eight prizes worth $25,000 each, including the best suspense and thriller novel, the best mystery and crime novel, the best romance novel, the best fantasy novel, the best comedy novel, the best historical novel, the best horror novel, and the best realistic novel.

The best translated novel will be awarded $100,000, while the best Arab publisher will be granted $50,000, and the audience award will be $30,000, with public voting opening on the award website at a later time.

Most Viewed

 
 
Culture

In Belarus, the Native Language is Vanishing as Russian Takes Prominence

FILE - Schoolchildren perform at a ceremony marking Belarus' holiday honoring the state flag and emblem in Minsk, Belarus, on May 13, 2012. (AP Photo, File)
FILE - Schoolchildren perform at a ceremony marking Belarus' holiday honoring the state flag and emblem in Minsk, Belarus, on May 13, 2012. (AP Photo, File)
TT
TT

In Belarus, the Native Language is Vanishing as Russian Takes Prominence

FILE - Schoolchildren perform at a ceremony marking Belarus' holiday honoring the state flag and emblem in Minsk, Belarus, on May 13, 2012. (AP Photo, File)
FILE - Schoolchildren perform at a ceremony marking Belarus' holiday honoring the state flag and emblem in Minsk, Belarus, on May 13, 2012. (AP Photo, File)

When school started this year for Mikalay in Belarus, the 15-year-old discovered that his teachers and administrators no longer called him by that name. Instead, they referred to him as Nikolai, its Russian equivalent.

What's more, classes at his school — one of the country's best — are now taught in Russian, not Belarusian, which he has spoken for most of his life.

Belarusians like Mikalay are experiencing a new wave of Russification as Moscow expands its economic, political and cultural dominance.

Russia under the czars and in the era of the Soviet Union imposed its language, symbols and cultural institutions on Belarus. But with the demise of the USSR in 1991, the country began to assert its identity, and Belarusian briefly became the official language, with the white-red-white national flag replacing a version of the red hammer and sickle, according to The AP.

But all that changed in 1994, after Alexander Lukashenko, a former Soviet collective farm official, came to power. The authoritarian leader made Russian an official language, alongside Belarusian, and did away with the nationalist symbols.

Now, with Lukashenko in control of the country for over three decades, he has allowed Russia to dominate all aspects of life in Belarus, a country of 9.5 million people. Belarusian, which like Russian uses the Cyrillic alphabet, is hardly heard on the streets of Minsk and other large cities anymore.

Official business is conducted in Russian, which dominates the majority of the media. Lukashenko speaks only Russian, and government officials often don't use their native tongue.

Belarus was part of the Russian empire for centuries and became one of 15 Soviet republics after the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution. Daily use of the Belarusian language decreased and continued only in the country's west and north and in rural areas.

In 1994, about 40% of students were taught in Belarusian; it's now down to under 9%.

Although Belarusian, like Russian, is an eastern Slavic language, its vocabulary is considerably different.