Launch of ICESCO Women’s Poetry Prize “Poem of Year of Women 2021”
13 April 2021
The Islamic World Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (ICESCO) announces the launch of the ICESCO Prize for Women’s Poetry: “Poem of the Year of Women 2021,” which will be awarded to three laureates during which the best poems will be published in a special collection.
The Prize, which ICESCO’s Arabic Language Centre for Non-Arabic Speakers will supervise, is part of the Organization’s programmes celebrating the Year of Women, placed under the high patronage of His Majesty King Mohammed VI of Morocco.
The Award aims to promote women’s poetry in classical Arabic (fus’hâ) and revitalize its positive role in promoting cultural interaction and human communication. It also aims to enrich the Arab library and the poetic scene with a plethora of quality women’s poems, dealing with women, their concerns, hopes, and aspirations. The goal is also to consolidate the presence of creative women poets in the Arab literary spheres and allow them to compete and make known their achievements and roles in promoting society through literature.
A jury composed of ICESCO specialists and renowned poets will evaluate the poems to select three winners who will receive an award of US$ 2000, US$ 1500, and US$ 1000, respectively. ICESCO will also award the winners certificates of appreciation and publish the best poems in the competition.
As for the application requirements, they include the following:
- The candidate must submit one poem only;
- The poem must be written in classical Arabic composition following the rules (metrics) of classical poetry (called “vertical” – shi’r ‘amûdi) or free verse (shi’r hurr);
- The poem must be composed of at least 20 lines (classical verse) or 30 lines (free verse) respecting the unit of measure (taf’îla);
- The subject of the poem must be related to women, their concerns, hopes, and aspirations;
- The poem must be original and unpublished and must not have been awarded a prize before or pending participation in other competitions;
The poems must be sent to ICESCO in “Word” or “Pdf” format along with the candidate’s CV, before July 30th, 2021, to this email address: arabic@icesco.org. The names of the winners will be announced through the ICESCO website and official letters to the winners.
