The Sheikh Zayed Book Award has revealed accepting nominations for its eleventh cycle of 2016/2017 beginning this month of May up until very first of October 2016. The announcement was made following the Award's grand ceremony, marking the finish up of the tenth session, under the patronage of HH Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces. The Award received a total of 1169 elections from all over the world, led by the Young Author classification with 332 works, followed by the Literature with 270 works.

The Award provides a noticable opportunity to imaginative people in any of the Award's different categories; Best Contribution to the Development of Nations, Children's Literature, Young Author, Translation, Literature, Literary and Art Criticism, Arabic Culture in Other language, Publishing and Technology and finally the Cultural Personality of the Year. Chosen books must have been published in the last 2 years and shouldn't be previously awarded by a global/ Arab Prize. The work must be written in Arabic, except for elections in both the 'Translation' and the 'Arabic Culture in Other Languages' classifications.

Worthy to note that the Award has released its renovated site www.zayedaward.ae, where candidates can download the application and the full info on the nominations policy and procedure for the 9 categories.

The Sheikh Zayed Book Award's first installment was in 2007, planned to promote scholarship and imagination in Arab culture. It carries prize money completing Dhs7 million - with Dh750, 000 per winner in all 8 categories (consisting of the Arab Culture in non- Arabic languages classification) and One million dirham for the cultural personality of the year winner. Furthermore, winners get a certification of merit and a Gold Medal.