Editing of Arabic Manuscripts Winner

Egyptian Author Dr Mustafa Said is a musician, composer, and performer, specialising in classical Arabic music, specifically Arabic Maqam music. He is a researcher in musicology, with most of his research focusing on the history of Arabic melody and its relationship with other cultures that adopt the Maqami music system as the basis for their melodies.

Dr Said founded the “Asil Ensemble” for classical Arabic music and has numerous musical releases, articles, and research publications.

He has participated in several leading musical forums as a composer, performer, and singer, in addition to lecturing at various conferences.

Professor, Poet, and Literary Critic

A prize-winning poet, prolific author, and highly respected academic.

Dr Muhammad Abu Al Fadl Badran was born in 1959, in the village of El-Owaidat, which is in the Qaft Centre in Upper Egypt, where he completed his primary, middle, and secondary education. Following this period, he joined the Faculty of Arts at the Assiut University and obtained a bachelor’s degree of Arts in 1981.

Department of Arabic Language and Literature at the Faculty of Arts in Qena (Assiut University) and completed his studies, obtaining a master’s degree in 1985 from the Faculty of Arts where his dissertation was on "The Role of Poets in Development of literary Criticism”.

In preparation for obtaining a doctorate degree on the topic of “Issues of Criticism and Rhetoric in the Legacy of Abi Al-Maari”, Dr Badran worked as an assistant teacher at the Faculty of Arts in Qena, and travelled to Germany where he embarked on a scientific mission to obtain a doctorate degree from Bonn University, in conjunction with the University of Assiut. Successfully obtaining his doctorate in 1990, he then worked at the University of South Valley in Egypt and Bochum University in Germany.

He also received Humboldt Foundation scholarship where he served as a visiting professor at the Faculty of Arts at Bonn University in Germany from 1994 to 1996. Returning to Egypt, he was promoted to the rank of Assistant Professor and held the position of Head of the Arabic Language Department at the Faculty of Arts at the University of South Valley in Qena, followed by Vice President.

Since 1998, Dr Badran was seconded to work in the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences at the United Arab Emirates University until 2006 (and promoted to Professor of Literary Criticism in 2004), after which he was appointed Dean of the Faculty of Arts in Qena, South Valley University, where he supervised several scientific theses for a master’s and doctorate.

He has had his poetry published in both Arabic and German newspapers and magazines, while studies, research and articles by others have been written about his poetic works in Arab countries and Germany.

Heritage Investigator and Folklore Researcher

With a PhD in the philosophy of literature, Dr. Hisham Abdulaziz is an expert in heritage and folklore. He used to be in charge of the Atlas of Egyptian Popular Proverbs and has written for a number of Arab newspapers and magazines.

He has taken part in many international scientific conferences and projects, and he has written a lot of books about his studies and investigations, such as "Muʻjam al-Tuḥfah al-Wafāʀīyah fī al-ʻāmmīyah al-MiᲣrīyah" (The Dictionary of Colloquial Egyptian Arabic Expressions).

An Egyptian poet, journalist, and novelist, born in 1973, he holds a Master's degree in Media Sciences from Cairo University's Faculty of Media. He has been working in Arab cultural journalism since 1996 and is the managing editor of the Abu Dhabi-based magazine "Heritage". He has won several awards, including the Sawiris Prize for the best theatre script for the play "72 Hours of Amnesty" (2015) and the Sharjah Arab Creativity Award.