The winners of the 2008 Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques Abdullah bin Abdulaziz International Award for Translation were honored in Riyadh today. 

In remarks delivered on his behalf by Prince Abdulaziz bin Abdullah, the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques said that he intends the award to be a means of promoting dialogue. 

“We look forward to making this prize a way to promote civilization and cultural dialogue between us and others and a tool to boost bilateral relations with Arab and international scientific, cultural and professional centers in the field of translation, dialogue and other associated and related fields,” King Abdullah said in his statement. 

Established in 2006 to highlight the concept of translation as a means of improving understanding among civilizations, the award is organized by the King Abdulaziz Public Library. Winners each receive a cash prize of SR 500,000 [$133,429]. This year, the Library received 186 submissions in 16 languages from over 30 countries. 

Prizes for 2008 were awarded in four of the five categories. No award was given for the Translation Award in Natural Science from Arabic into Other Languages due to a lack of quality submissions. 

The Translation Award in Natural Science was jointly awarded to Dr. Abdullah Ibrahim Al-Muhaidib from Saudi Arabia for his Arabic translation of “Geotechnical Engineering: Soil Mechanics” by John N. Cernica, and Dr. Ahmed Fouad Basha from Egypt for his Arabic translation of “The Odd Quantum” by Sam Treiman. 

The Translation Award for Institutions was awarded to the King Fahd Complex for Printing of the Glorious Qur’an, which had been nominated by several government and nongovernment organizations for the large number of distinguished works that it administers. 

The Translation Award in Humanities and Social Sciences was jointly awarded to Dr. Abdulsalam Al-Shaddadi from Morroco for his translation of “Muqadimat Ibn Khaldun, Kitabu Al’ibar” from Arabic into French. The other winner was Dr. Claudia M. Tresso from Italy for her translation of Ibn Batuta’s “Tuhfat Alnodhar fi Ghara’ib Alamsar wa Aja’ib Alasfar” from Arabic into Italian. 

The Translation Award in Humanities and Social Sciences from Other Languages into Arabic was given to Dr. Salih Sadawi Salih from Egypt for his translation of “Mistr’da Turkler ve Kulturel Miraslari” by Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu from Turkish into Arabic.