Issue No. 591
Opinion
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20 - 26 June 2002 Issue No. 591 Opinion |
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 | Recommend this page | ||
State awards again
Disagreements invariably follow the announcement of the state awards each year, a natural consequence of the fact that different people have different perspectives and different criteria of judgement. It is only to be expected that these will, on occasion, differ from those of members of the board of the Supreme Council of Culture who vote on the awards.
Such disagreements notwithstanding, these awards are extremely important in that they encourage younger cultural figures and reassure older ones about the value of their achievements. I, for one, have found awards indispensable throughout my working life. At the beginning, for example, I was not entirely sure that I was cut out for a career in writing. When I received prizes, however, my determination to tread this difficult path was strengthened. They reassured me that I had at least some aptitude in my chosen field of endeavour.
Encouragement is essential, even for older writers. Taking into account the bleakness of the cultural atmosphere in which we live it often seems as though people no longer have any interest in art, literature or science. Society's attention seems instead to be directed entirely towards money-making; to the recipient, therefore, an award is a rare light in the dark. In addition to boosting morale awards have financial value. I was one of the earliest people to call for raising the financial value of the awards, for cultural figures are more often than not at a financial disadvantage. An award will encourage them to go on.
Based on an interview by Mohamed Salmawy
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