The judging process of the Etisalat Award for Children’s Literature is conducted with full transparency and the utmost professionalism. This has served the Award’s prestige and provided publishers with a greater incentive to submit their best books to the Award. Entries are evaluated by an independent judging panel, which chooses the shortlist and winner.
The judging process is conducted according to the clauses listed below.
To ensure transparency in the selection of the members of the judging panel, the following will be taken into account:
The Award’s management shall form a judging panel each year, provided that it includes a minimum of three members with relevant expertise, competence and integrity.
The names of the members of the judging panel and the content of their discussion during their meetings shall remain confidential. The Award's management may announce the names of the members during the final awards ceremony.
The panel’s work begins the day after the signing the agreement with the Award’s management. It shall end upon their submission of a report on a date determined by the Award’s management.
The judging panel shall present a written report presenting the results of their discussions. The report should specify the reasons behind the choice of the winning books in each category.
The choice of winning books shall be decided by majority vote.
If any member of the judging panel cannot attend a meeting due to an emergency, his or her written report shall be considered sufficient. He/she shall have no right to object to the decision(s) made by the judging panel during the meeting. The choice of winning books shall be decided by majority vote.
The constitution of the judging panel is secret, and the names of its members should not be revealed before the announcement of the winning book. Judges are not permitted to announce or reveal that they are members of the Etisalat Award for Arabic Children's Literature judging panel. Nor are they allowed to disclose the results of the deliberations of the judging panel to any external party. The choice of winning books shall be decided by majority vote.
A judge shall withdraw from the judging panel if one of his/her relatives of the first or second degree has a work submitted for the award. The choice of winning books shall be decided by majority vote.
The judging panel shall evaluate the books submitted for the Award in accordance with the rules and criteria specified by the Award's management.
The jury reserves the unequivocal right to transfer submission from one section to another, if deemed necessary. The choice of winning books shall be decided by majority vote.
If a winning book has more than one author, the prize money will be divided equally between them or as per the judging panel’s decision. The choice of winning books shall be decided by majority vote.
The following set of criteria represents the basis upon which the submitted entries are evaluated by the judging panel. Books are evaluated based on the external appearance of the book, text, illustrations (if any), layout, and production.
1 | General Appearance of the Book | General Appearance of the Book | - Quality of the bookbinding and ease in opening the book |
Printing and production quality | - Suitability of the font used for the target age group | ||
Book cover | - Consistency between the cover illustration and the subject of the book
| ||
2 | Text | Title | - Choice of title and the extent of its reflection of the book's subject |
Content | - Suitability of the content to the target age group | ||
Information Presented | - Accuracy and precision of information presented | ||
Language and Style | - Suitability of the language and choice of words for the target age group | ||
3 | Artistic Elements | Layout, Production, and Illustrations (if any) | - Expressive quality of the illustrations |
The jury also establishes general standards for chapter books and young adult books as follows:
• Characters
• Plot and suspense elements
• Thread
• Time and place
• Text and the language used in terms of vocabulary, compositions, methods used and language compatibility with the target age group.