All-female Final for First-ever Emirates Novel Award, Novella Category

I’m late to this, but the first ever Emirates Novel Award (@UAENovelAward) announced three finalists for its Best Short Novel (17,000 – 40,000 words) category last Thursday:

The three finalists were chosen from a pool of twenty eligible submissions. The three novels — by Lulwah al-Mansouri, Khawla Alsuwaidi, and Maitha al-Muhair — are available on the Emirates Novel Award website.

Readers are encouraged to vote for their favorite, and the winner will be decided a la Arabs’ Got Talent or the Amazon Breatkthrough Novel contest: half by a yet-unnamed judging panel and half by the public vote.

The award is sponsored by twofour54, a tax-free media and entertainment zone based in Abu Dhabi. The winner will receive 60,000AED. Second place is worth 40,000AED and third place 20,000AED.

The finalists in the Best Novel category (40,000+ words) will be revealed later. Meanwhile, the “Judges Committee Award was given to Ras al-Khaimah writer Hind al-Bar.

The award was launched in June of last year and is open to unpublished works written in Arabic by Emirati citizens. I three categories: Best Novel (minimum 40,000 words), Best Short Novel (17,000 to 40,000) and a Judges Committee Award.