• About Sh. Hamad Award


Sheikh Hamad Award for Translation and International Understanding was founded in Doha, Qatar (2015). It is an international prize run by a board of trustees, a steering committee and independent panels of judges.
 

Vision

The Award seeks to honour translators and acknowledge their role in strengthening the bonds of friendship and cooperation amongst peoples and nations of the world. It hopes to reward merit and excellence, encourage creativity, uphold the highest moral and ethical standards, and spread the values of diversity, pluralism and openness. The Award also aspires to inculcate a culture of knowledge and dialogue, promote Arab and Islamic culture, develop international understanding, and encourage mature crosscultural interaction between Arabic and other world languages through the medium of translation.
 

Objectives

  • To honor translators and acknowledge their role in building bridges between nations and peoples of the world
  • To encourage individuals, publishing houses, Arab and international organizations and institutions to show more interest in creative and quality translations from/into Arabic
  • To contribute to improving the quality of translation from/into Arabic based on excellence, accuracy and cognitive and intellectual value
  • To enrich the Arab culture with significant works of world literature, art and science, and to equally enrich the world cultural heritage with translations of creative Arab and Islamic cultural products
  • To acknowledge contributions made by any individual or institution to spreading the culture of peace and international understanding





  • Award Value


The First Category: Translation Prizes, subdivided into the following:

- Translation from Arabic into English
- Translation from English into Arabic
- Translation from Arabic into a language other than English
- Translation from a language other than English into Arabic
 

The second Category: Achievement Prizes in the two main languages:

(200.000 $US), awarded to individual(s) and/or institution(s) with substantive contribution to translation and international understanding.

 

The Third Category: Achievement Prizes:

(1.000.000 $US), Awarded to translations from Arabic into languages selected annually and from these languages into Arabic.

 



  • Award management and structure


Board of Trustees:

The Board of Trustees consists of five to ten members, who are selected from multiple nationalities for a renewable two-year term. . The Council provides advice and advice, contributes to the selection of foreign languages for the award each year, and participates in the evaluation of The administrative and scientific performance of the award.

 

Steering Committee:

The Steering Committee undertakes the tasks of supervising the work of the award and ensuring its transparency, and the complete separation between the management processes and the selection of works. the candidate, judging them and awarding them prizes. None of the members of the Board of Trustees, the arbitration committees, or the Steering Committee are eligible to run for the award.

 

Arbitration committees:

Awards are awarded according to the recommendations of independent international arbitration committees, which are selected by the Award Steering Committee in consultation with the Board of Trustees. It is possible to increase - or decrease - the number of members of each committee according to need, or the assistance of arbitrators with specializations. specific business evaluation in their fields of specialization.

 

Board of Trustees:

  • Hassan Nehme - Secretary General
  • Khaled Ern
  • Mahmoud Tarshouna
  • Shui Qingguo (Bassam)
  • Yoon Eun Kyung (Noble)
  • Michael Cooperson
  • Fatima Borjakani
  • Shukri Mujahid
  • Aqeel Al-Marai
 





  • Judging Criteria


  • Value of the translated work
    (30 Points)
  • The importance of the work in the culture it was translated from
    (15 Points)
  • Specialized field
    (7 Points)
  • General frame
    (8 Points)
  • The importance of the work in the translated culture
    (15 Points)
  • Specialized field
    (7 Points)
  • General frame
    (8 Points)
  • Translation accuracy
    (40 Points)
  • Preserving the content and spirit of the original work
    (15 Points)
  • Accuracy of translating and unifying the term
    (15 Points)
  • Additions (comments / footnotes / technical and bibliographic indexes)
    (5 Points)
  • Omissions
    (5 Points)
  • Translation style
    (30 Points)
  • Language integrity, spelling, grammar, and expressiveness
    (15 Points)
  • Translation readability, smoothness and aesthetics
    (15 Points)
 



  • Timeline



timeline-div1
  •  2024-03-01  

  • Nomination opens

  ...  

timeline-div2
  •  2024-05-31  

  • Nomination closes

...  

timeline-div3
  •  2024-12-12  

  • Announcement of results and Award ceremony

...  



  •  Award Categories  

  • Single Books Category


The "Single Books" category relates to the translation of a single book, which fulfills the conditions stipulated in this category.
  • Achievement Category


The Achievement category relates to all translations made by the translator or the institution, without a time limit, and is awarded for a group of translations that have made an outstanding contribution over a long period of time.


Apply for the award