All you need to know about Egypt’s ‘Young Innovator Award’

CAIRO – 2 March 2021: Egypt’s Minister of Culture Inas Abdel-Dayem announced during a press conference on February 28 the launch of a new State Award which comes under the auspices of Egypt’s First Lady Entissar El-Sisi.

The new State Award for the Young Innovator was recently created with the aim of advancing arts and literature.

What are the branches competing for the award?
 

The award’s branches include stories, poetry, drama, short plays, drawings, stringed instruments including the violin and cello, singing, applications and websites and the scientific innovation branch.

Conditions for participating are as follows:
 

1)    The applicant must be an Egyptian citizen.

2)    Applicant must be a person of a good reputation.

3)    Applicant must not have been previously convicted of a felony or misdemeanor involving breach of honor or trust, unless he/she has been declared innocent.

4)    The age of the applicant on the first day of applying mentioned in the announcement of the award shall not exceed 18 years.

5)    He/she should not have previously won the award, unless the works submitted by the applicant include new creative additions.

6)    The applicant must adhere to the age group referred to in the announcement, which is divided into two levels from 5 to 12 years as a first level and from above 12 to 18 years as a second level.

7)    The work itself shall not be submitted to another award or competition until the announcement of the award winner.

8)    The submitted work should not have previously won a prize or other competition, and the person is not entitled to submit more than one work for participation.

9) Fill the award form; attach to it a copy of the national ID of the applicant’s guardian, a copy of the applicant’s birth certificate and their recent personal photo.

10) In the event that the guardian (the father) is not present, a power of attorney for financial and administrative handling of the award shall be attached with the papers or an original copy of the guardianship decision of the applicant.

11) In the case of group work, the decision of its acceptance is conditional on the consent of all the participants. Participation rates should be predetermined in the application, and if participation rates are not specified, the award is divided equally between them.

12) In the event that the work submitted for the award is proven to be plagiarized or stolen during the judging stages or after the award is granted, the applicant will be excluded from nomination for the award and prevented from applying for it again, and the award will be withdrawn in the event that it is obtained.

13) In the first stage, submitted works will be sorted, and in the second stage, certain works will be shortlisted. A personal interview will be conducted with the applicant, whose work is shortlisted, to discuss the submitted work and evaluate it at the headquarters of the Supreme Council of Culture.

14) In the event that the applicant dies after the personal interview, the progress is considered valid.

15) Administratively, the works that do not fulfill the award conditions are excluded.

16) Submissions for the award will run from February 28 to March 25.

How to apply?
 

Works must be sent on a CD or flash memory with the required papers by mail to the address of the Supreme Council of Culture. The work is not accepted after the expiration of the advertised period for application.

What is the value of the State Award for the Young Innovator?
 

The financial value of each branch of the award is LE 40,000. It is divided into two age groups, from the age of 5 to 12 years, and from 12 to 18 years.