On May 30, Egypt’s Supreme Council of Culture (SCC) announced its Nile Awards for art, literature, and social sciences for 2023 have been given to fine artist Abdel-Salam Eid, late translator Mohammed Enani, and thinker and professor Ali El-Din Hilal, respectively.
Moreover, Ibrahim Abdel-Meguied, Dawood Abdel-Sayed, and Iraqi Qais Azzawi win Egypt’s top cultural honor.
The Minister of Culture, Neveen El-Kilany, announced the winners of the Nile, Appreciation, and Excellency awards in the 69th meeting of the SCC.
Here is the complete list of winners:
Nile Awards:
Appreciation Awards:
The Nile Award in Arts went to the painter, drawer, illustrator, photographer, and sculptor Abdel-Salam Eid.
The Nile Award of Literature went to the late translator, also known as the Sheikh of Translators, Mohammed Enani.
The Nile Award in Social Sciences went to the thinker and political science professor Ali El-Din Hilal.
The Nile Award for the Most Creative Arab Personality went to Iraqi painter and sculptor Diaa Azzawi.
The Appreciation Award in Arts went to Musician Hany Shenouda, President of Acting Professions Syndicate Ashraf Zaki, and Architect Dalila Al-Kardani.
The Appreciation Award in Literature went to the late writer Abdel-Rahim Al-Kurdi, novelist Hala Al-Badry, and literary critic Ahmed Youssef.
The Appreciation Award in Social Sciences went to El-Sayed Falaifal, Hassan El-Saady, and Saleh Salem.
Excellency Awards:
The Excellency Award in Arts went to Rania Yehia and Afifi Hassanein
The Excellency Award in Literature went to the late Mostafa Selim and Fathi Abdel-Sami.
The Excellency Award in Social Sciences went to Hana Gawhari, Hassan Salama, and Ahmed Ragab.
Fact box:
The state awards have been handed out annually since 1958. They were canceled due to the 1967 Six-Day War between Egypt and Israel.
This year saw 49 prizes in total: 28 Encouragement Awards, seven Excellency Awards, 10 Appreciation Awards, and four Nile Awards.
The Encouragement Awards were divided as follows: eight for the arts, four for literature, eight for social sciences, and eight for law and economic research.
As for the Excellency Award, prominent figures, such as the political analyst Ammar Ali Hassan and economic expert Ahmed El-Naggar, won the award in 2021.
The Appreciation Award was first presented in 1999. Novelists Khairy Shalaby and Gamal El-Ghitani, poet Mohammed Afifi Mattar, and critic Gaber Asfour are among the past winners.
Notably, the Nile Awards were previously called the Mubarak Award. The name was changed after toppling former President Hosni Mubarak in 2011.
Poet Abdel-Rahman El-Abnoudi, writers Bahaa Taher, Ibrahim Aslan, and Waheed Hamed, and cinema director Youssef Chahine are the most prominent figures to date who have won the Nile Award.
