Al Owais Award

The Sultan Bin Ali Al Owais Cultural Awards (or Al Owais Awards; Arabic: جائزة سلطان بن علي العويس) are a biannual prize for literary and cultural achievement in the Arab world.[1] It is administered by the Sultan Bin Al Owais Cultural Foundation of the United Arab Emirates.[1] The award was established by the late Emirati businessman and philanthropist Sultan Bin Ali Al Owais. The awards were first given out in 1988-89.

The Al Owais Cultural Awards are given in four categories: Poetry, Novels, Criticism/Literature Studies, and Human/Future Studies. Winners in each category receive a prize of US$100,000 for a total of US$400,000 making it one of the richest literary prizes in the world. A fifth award called the Sultan Bin Ali Al Owais Award for Scientific and Cultural Achievement has different rules and criteria, with a prize amount of US$100,000.[2]

In 2004, the poetry prize was given to Iraqi poet Saadi Youssef but was controversially withdrawn after he criticized UAE ruler Sheikh Zayed bin al-Nahiyan.[3]