Winners of illustration awards announced

Jamil Khan, Senior Reporter

Winners from the various categories of the Sharjah Children’s Books and the 9th Sharjah Children’s Book Illustration Exhibition Awards were honoured during the 12th edition of the Sharjah Children’s Reading Festival (SCRF) on Thursday.

The chief guest Ahmed Bin Rakkad Al Ameri, Chairman of the Sharjah Book Authority (SBA), honoured winners at the festival.

SHARJAH CHILDREN’S BOOK AWARD: Mohammed Al Hamwi’s Jana and the Valley Village, published by Turkish publisher Roya for Publishing and Creative Production, won the Arabic Children’s Book category (4-12 years), while Rania Badda’s Shiamila, published by Nahdet Publishing Group in Egypt, won the Arabic Young Adult books category (13-17 years).

The English Children’s book category, which targets literature designed for readers aged 7-13 was won by Emirati author Hanadi Al Fahim for her book The Little Ghaf Tree, while SCRF Visually Impaired Book Award was scooped by the Sharjah Police Science Academy, which was received by HE Brigadier General Khamis Al Othmani, Director General of the Academy.

SHARJAH CHILDREN’S BOOK ILLUSTRATION EXHIBITION: Slovenian artist, Andreja Biklar, has won first place in the 9th edition Sharjah Children’s Book Illustration Exhibition, while Italian Alicia Bravo has been announced the second-place winner. Third place was taken Esmeralda Ríos from Mexico. Korean artist Kyoung-Mi Ahn, Lithuanian Inja Dagel and Claudia Legnazzi from Argentina, received honorary prizes for their high-quality submissions.

The 11-day festival open to visitors from 4pm - 10pm, barring Saturdays when SCRF will welcome visitors from 10am - 8pm. The 9th edition of the Sharjah Children’s Book Illustration Exhibition is part of SCRF’s cultural offerings along with publications of 172 participating publishers and 537 fun and educational activities and workshops all designed to ignite young imaginations.

Separately, the iconic House of Wisdom, a futuristic social and cultural hub in Sharjah, will provide young visitors at the 12th edition of Sharjah Children’s Reading Festival (SCRF) with a highly immersive and engaging learning experience by bringing the imaginative world of stories to life through a host of tech-enabled augmented and virtual reality environments.