Abdullah prizes for translation to be awarded today

The King Abdullah International Prize for Translation for 2011 will be distributed by Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Prince Abdul Aziz bin Abdullah. Prince Abdul Aziz is also chairman of Board of Trustees of the prize. He will give away the prizes in Berlin today. Berlin Mayor Klaus Wowereit will be present on the occasion. “The prize opens broad prospects for comprehensive and meaningful dialogue between the Arab-Islamic culture and other cultures in all areas of human knowledge and paves the way to the meeting of followers of religions on common denominators that achieve the interests and happiness for humankind and avoid the scourges of conflicts and confrontation,” said Faisal Muammar, adviser to Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah and general supervisor of the King Abdul Aziz Public Library, in a statement to the Saudi Press Agency. Winners of the prize include The “Kalimah” Project of the Abu Dhabi Council of Culture and Heritage in the category of institutions, according to an earlier announcement. The prize for translation in natural sciences from other languages to Arabic is shared by Muhammad Al-Harahsha and Waleed Khalifa for a translation on metallurgy and mining by Fathi Habshi from English into Arabic, and Muhammad Al-Alfi and Ridwan Abdul Aal for translating “Computer Networking” by James Kurose and Keith Ross. In the category of translations from other languages into Arabic in humanities, the prize is shared by Muhiyuddin Hamidi for translating “Clinical Linguistics” by Lewis Cummins into Arabic and Fadil Jatkar for his translation of “The Passion of the Western Mind” by Richard Tarnas from English into Arabic. In the category of humanities from Arabic into other languages, the prize is awarded to Niamatullah Ibrahim, Abdul Hakeem Arfov, Akmal Janov Abdul Hamid Zayiyov, Jahanghir Niamatov and Abdul Wahid Aliyov for their translation of Ibn Hisham’s biography of the Prophet (peace be upon him) into Uzbek. In the same category Nabil Al-Ridwan got the prize for his translation of “Shadow: Myths and its Cognitive and Creative Stretching” by Fatimah Al-Wohaibi from Arabic into French. The cash award for the prize has been increased from SR 500,000 to SR 750,000 and prizes for the appreciation of contributions of individuals from SR 250,000 to SR 500,000. Saudi Ambassador to Germany Osama Shobokshi expressed his happiness over the German government and the elites of German society hosting the prize ceremony in Berlin for the fifth year. Arab news