The Sheikh Hamad Award for Translation and International Understanding is a Qatari literary award for translation from and to Arabic. The total value of the award is $2 million. It is named in honor of Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, the ruling Emir of Qatar from 1995 to 2013. It is among the world's richest literary prizes for translation.
History Sheikh Hamad Award for Translation and International Understanding was initiated by the FAIR Forum (Forum for Arab and International Relations), in Doha, Qatar in 2015, in order to revive the culture of honoring translation and translators, which has been one of the pillars of Arab civilization throughout the ages. From Bayt Al-Hikma (The House of Wisdom) to Madrasat Al-Alsun (School of languages), translation played a major role in the exchanges between the Arab culture and the world throughout history. It enabled to convey thoughts and words and to build bridges between the two sides. Today, translation and translators still have an important role in promoting peace and harmony between different cultures.
The annual award consists of three categories: The Translation Awards: include four branches: from Arabic to English, from English to Arabic, from Arabic to a second language and from the second language to Arabic. Each branch is worth $200,000 ($100,000 first place, $60,000 second place and $40,000 third place). The Achievement awards: up to ten branches: the translation from Arabic to 5 other languages and the translation from these 5 languages to Arabic. Each branch is worth up to $100,000. The International Understanding Award: worth $200,000 for a single winner, it aims at recognizing the efforts of an individual or institution in building a culture of peace and promoting international understanding.
2022 Edition
The second language for the 2022 Translation Award was Turkish. The languages for the Achievement Awards category were Romanian, Kazakh, Swahili, Bahasa Indonesia, and Vietnamese.
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CategoryRankWinner(s)Translated bookArabic to TurkishFirstMuḥyī al-Dīn MājidTafsīr mā baʿd al-ṭabīʿah by Ibn RushdArabic to TurkishSecondMuḥammad Amīn Mashālī and Muntahā MashālīRūḥ al-ḥadāthah by Taha AbderrahmaneArabic to TurkishSecond bis.Numan Konaklıal-Muthaqqafūn fī al-ḥaḍārah al-ʿArabīyah by Muḥammad ʿĀbid al-JābirīArabic to TurkishThirdOsman Bayder and Özcan AkdağDalālat al-ḥāʾirīn by Mūsá ibn MaymūnArabic to TurkishThird bis.Soner Dumanal-Siyāsah al-sharʿīyah fī iṣlāḥ al-rāʿī wa-al-raʿīyah by Ibn TaymiyyaTurkish to ArabicFirstṢalāḥ SaʿdāwīTārīkh fann al-khaṭṭ by Muhittin SerinTurkish to ArabicThirdHeval DaqmaqBarbarī, ʿaṣrī, mutaḥaḍḍir by İbrahim KalınArabic to EnglishSecondWilliam HutchinsIbn Arabi's Small Death by Mohammed Hasan AlwanArabic to EnglishThirdLeri PriceThe Walker by Samar YazbekEnglish to ArabicSecondMuḥammad ʿAbd al-Salām ḤamshīPopulism and World Politics by David MacDonald et al.English to ArabicSecond bis.Ayman ḤaddādGaza: An Inquest into Its Martyrdom by Norman FinkelsteinEnglish to ArabicThirdMuṣṭafá Muḥammad ʿAbd Allāh QāsimThe Open Sea by Joseph ManningEnglish to ArabicThird bis.ʿĀmir ShaykhūnīStealing from the Saracens by Diana DarkeDictionaryMuḥammad Manṣūr ḤamzahBahasa Dictionary
Achievement Awards
CategoryWinnersAchievement Award Mehmet Hakkı Suçin Muḥammad Ḥarb ʿAbd Allāh Aḥmad Ibrāhīm al-ʿAzab Burhan Köroğlu Arab Network for Research and Publishing İnsan Yayınları Mana YayınlarıAchievement Awards in Languages Romanian – Nicolae Dobrișan Romanian – George Grigore Kazakh – Ikhtiyar Baltore Bahasa Indonesia – ʿAbd al-Ḥayy al-Kattānī
2021 The second language for the Translation Award was Chinese. The languages for the Achievement Awards category were Urdu, Amharic, Greek, and Dutch.
Translation Awards +CategoryRank Winner (s) Translated Book English to Arabic Second Mu`īn RūmīyahDictionary of the Social Sciences edited by Craig CalhounEnglish to Arabic Third Jamāl Ibrāhīm SharafThe American Pragmatists by Cheryl MisakArabic to English Second Ovamir AnjumRanks of the Divine Seekers by Ibn Qayyim al-JawziyyaChinese to Arabic First Yārā Ibrāhīm `Abd al-`Azīz al-Maṣrīal-Ḥubb fi al-qarn al-jadīd by Can XueChinese to Arabic First bis. Isrā’ `Abd al-Sayyid Ḥasan Muḥammad Ḥajar et.al.Mawsū`at tārīkh al-Ṣīn edited by Zhang QizhiChinese to Arabic Third Ḥasanayn Fahmī ḤusaynThaqāfat al-ţa`ām al-Ṣīnī by Xie DingyuanArabic to Chinese First Ge Tieying (Māhir)al-Bukhalā` by al-JāḥiẓArabic to Chinese Second Wang Fu (Farīdah)Ṭawq al Ḥamām by Rajā’ `Ālim
Achievement Awards +Category Winners Achievement Li Zhenzhong (`Alī) Bayt al-Ḥikmah Group for Culture (Egypt)Achievement Awards in Languages Urdu - Muḥammad Ṭufayl Hāshimī Urdu - `Abd al-Kabīr Muḥsin Amharic - Al-Najāshī for Publishing and Distribution Amharic - Ḥasan Tājū Legas Greek - Persa Koumoutsi Greek - Khālid Ra’ūf Dutch - Richard van LeeuwenTranslation Encouragement Award Usāma Ghawjī Fahd Muţlaq al-`Utaybī
2017 The second language for the Translation Award category was French. The languages for the Achievement Awards category are Japanese, Chinese, Persian, Urdu and Malay.
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Translation Awards
CategoryRankWinner(s)Translated bookArabic to FrenchFirstPhilippe VigreuxLa Parole Est D’or (Maqāmāt al-Hamadhānī)Arabic to FrenchSecondFrédéric LagrangeLes Basses Oeuvres (Tarmī bisharar by `Abduh Khal)Arabic to FrenchSecondMay A. MahmoudPapa Sartre (Bābā Sartre by `Alī Badr)French to ArabicFirstMaḥmūd ṬarshūnahAl-Yaman al-Sa`īd and Al-Yaman al-Islāmī (Le Yémen Bienheureux and Le Yémen Islamique by Radhi Daghfous)French to ArabicFirstJān Mājid Jabbūr Zaman al-Madhlūlīn (Le Temps des Humiliés by Bertrand Badie)French to ArabicSecondJamāl SheḥayyedAl-Masarrāt wa-al-Ayyām (Les Plaisirs et les Jours by Marcel Proust)French to ArabicThirdMuḥmmad Ḥātimīand Muḥmmad JādūrAl-Uṣūl al-Ijtimā`īyah wa-al- Thaqāfīyah lil Waṭanīyah al-Maghribīyah (Les origines sociales et culturelles du nationalisme marocain by Abdallah Laroui)French to ArabicThirdAḥmad al-ṢādiqīIbn `Arabī, Sīratuhu wa Fikruhu (Ibn ‘Arabi ou La Quête du Soufre Rouge by Claude Addas)Arabic to EnglishFirstPaul StarkeyThe Shell (Al-Qawqa`ah by Muṣṭafá Khalīfah)Arabic to EnglishFirstKatharine Halls and Adam TalibThe Dove’s Necklace (Ṭawq al-Ḥamām by Rajā’ `Ālim)Arabic to EnglishSecondJibrīl Fu’ād ḤaddādThe Lights of Revelation and the Secrets of Interpretation (Anwār al-Tanzīl fī Asrār al-ta’wīl by Al-Bayḍāwī)English to ArabicFirstMujāb Al-Imām and Mu`īn Al-ImāmUṣūl al-Niẓām al-Siyāsī and al-Niẓām al-Siyāsī wa al-Inḥiṭāṭ al-Siyāsī (The Origins of Political Order and Political Order and Political Decay by Francis Fukuyama)English to ArabicSecondYūsūf Bin `UthmānDirāsāt Niūtūnīyah (Newtonian Studies by Alexandre Koyré)English to ArabicThirdḤamzah Bin QabalānAyyu Naw`in Mina al-Makhlūqāt Naḥnu? (What Kind of Creatures Are We? by Noam Chomsky)
Achievement Awards
+CategoryWinnersAchievement Award for the French languageSindbad Publishers – Arles, FranceTranslation and Dictionaries StudiesĪsá Mammīshī Muḥammad Dīdāwī Ḥasan Sa`īd GhazālahAchievement Awards in Eastern Languages (Chinese, Persian, Japanese, Malay, Urdu)`Abd al-Jabbār al-Rifā`ī Xue Qing Guo (Bassām)
Muḥammad al-Sa`īd Jamāl al-Dīn
`Abd al-`Azīz Ḥamdī `Abd al-`Azīz
Ḥafiẓ Ikrām-ul-Ḥaqq
Jalāl al-Sa`īd al-Hifnāwī
Encyclopaedia Islamica Foundation - Tehran
2016 Edition
The second language for 2016 was Spanish.
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CategoryRankWinner(s)Translated bookArabic to EnglishFirstMichael CoopersonVirtues of the Imām Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal by Ibn al-JawzīArabic to SpanishFirstSalvador Peña MartínMil y una noches in four volumesArabic to SpanishSecondIgnacio FerrandoAzazel by Youssef ZiedanArabic to SpanishThirdMahmud SobhEl diván de la poesía Árabe oriental y AndalusíEnglish to ArabicFirstMurād TadghūtArabic Manuscripts: A Vademecum for Readers by Adam GacekEnglish to ArabicSecondḤasan ḤilmīThe Cantos of Ezra Pound (selections) and Personae: Collected Shorter Poems (selections)English to ArabicThirdMuṣṭafa Muḥammad `abd Allah QāsimConstantinople: City of the World's Desire 1453-1924 by Philip Mansel Spanish to Arabic FirstSaleh AlmaniDiez mujeres by Marcela Serrano Spanish to Arabic SecondSulaymān Al `aṭṭārEl ingenioso hidalgo don Quijote de la Mancha Spanish to Arabic Third`alī Ibrāhīm MenūfīHatshapsut: de reina a Faraón de Egipto by Teresa Bedman and Francisco J. Martín ValentínAchievement AwardCasa Árabe, Madrid, Córdoba, SpainAchievement AwardBanipal Publishing, London, UKAchievement AwardIbn Tufayl Foundation for Arabic Studies, Almería, Spain
2015 Edition
The second language for 2017 was Turkish.
Source:
CategoryRankWinner(s)Translated bookArabic to EnglishFirstGeert Jan van GelderGregor SchoelerEpistle of Forgiveness by Al-Ma`arrīArabic to EnglishSecondImran Ahsan Khan NyazeeThe Reconciliation of the Fundamentals of Islamic Law by al-ShāṭibīArabic to EnglishSecondIssa BoullataThe Unique Necklace by Ibn `Abd RabbihiArabic to EnglishThirdFerial GhazoulJohn VerlendenChronicles of Majnun Layla and Selected PoemsArabic to TurkishFirstMuhammet Ҫelikal-`aql al-akhlāqī al-`Arabī by Muḥammad `Ābid al-JābirīArabic to TurkishSecondOsman GumanDalā’il al-i`jāz by `Abd al-Qāhir al-JurjānīArabic to TurkishThirdÖmer TürkerSharḥ al-mawāqif by al-Sharīf al-JurjānīEnglish to ArabicFirstImām `Abd al-Fattāḥ ImāmMulticultural Odysseys by Will KymlickaEnglish to ArabicSecondFāyiz ṢuyyāghThe Age of Extremes by Eric HobsbawmEnglish to ArabicThirdAḥmad Sālim Sālim `Alī `ĪsāA History of Egypt in the Middle Ages by Stanley Lane-PooleEnglish to ArabicThirdAḥmad Ḥasan al-Ma`īnīThe Persians: Ancient, Mediaeval and Modern Iran by Homa KatouzianTurkish to ArabicFirstFazel Bayatal-Bilād al-`Arabīyah fī al-wathā’iq al-`Uthmānīyah (four volumes)Turkish to ArabicSecond`Abd al-Qādir `AbdallīHuzur by Ahmet Hamdi TanpinarTurkish to ArabicThirdṢafwān ShalabīLa wujūd limāyud`ā bilghad (Collection of Turkish short stories)Achievement Award The Arab Organization for Translation (Al-Munaẓẓamah al-`Arabīyah li-al-Tarjamah)
References
External links Sheikh Hamad Award for Translation and International Understanding