{"id":418768,"date":"2026-10-20T10:58:47","date_gmt":"2026-10-20T13:58:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/?p=418768"},"modified":"2026-10-20T10:58:56","modified_gmt":"2026-10-20T13:58:56","slug":"qatar-launches-translation-award-in-brazil","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/qatar-launches-translation-award-in-brazil\/","title":{"rendered":"Qatar launches translation award in Brazil"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

S\u00e3o Paulo \u2013 The inclusion of Portuguese in the 2027 edition of Qatar\u2019s Sheikh Hamad Award for Translation and International Understanding was officially announced on Monday (19) by award representatives at the headquarters of the Arab-Brazilian Chamber of Commerce<\/strong> (ABCC<\/a>) in S\u00e3o Paulo. The award recognizes translations between Arabic and other languages spoken around the world. Portuguese has been included for the second time, allowing Brazilian translators to compete. Applications will open on Jan. 1, 2027, and close on March 30, 2027.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Executive
Executive Director Labib Nahhas explains the details of the award.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The award has two categories: Achievement, which recognizes a translator\u2019s career or an organization\u2019s track record in translation, and Individual Book, which recognizes the translation of a published work. Portuguese is confirmed for the Achievement category next year, but organizers are still considering whether to include the language in the Individual Book category as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to information provided to ANBA by the award\u2019s Executive Director Labib Nahhas, the Individual Book category focuses on the quality of a book and its significance in the cultures of both the original and target languages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn the Achievement category, we focus on the translator\u2019s or organization\u2019s entire career, all the books translated over perhaps decades, but also on international understanding. We look at the activities and initiatives that the organization or individual has undertaken to bring Arab and Brazilian cultures closer together\u2014in the case of a Brazilian entry\u2014and vice versa,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Al-Marri
Al-Marri discussed the decision to visit Brazil<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Each year, the award selects two to three widely spoken languages, such as English, Spanish and Chinese. English is included every year, while two to four less widely spoken languages, such as Italian and Japanese, are also selected to compete. Widely spoken languages can compete in both categories.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSo far, Portuguese has been classified as a less widely spoken language, but it may be moved to the widely spoken category for the award,\u201d Nahhas said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Sheikh Hamad Award for Translation and International Understanding will distribute USD 2 million in prize money. There are usually multiple winners across the different categories. Nahhas said at least USD 200,000 will be allocated to awards involving Portuguese. Translators and organizations working with Portuguese anywhere in the world, including Portugal, are eligible to enter in the Arabic-to-Portuguese translation category; eligibility is not limited to Brazil or Brazilian nationals.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Officials,
Officials, speakers and award representatives at the Arab-Brazilian Chamber<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Brazil was selected to host a delegation from the award, comprising Nahhas, Director-General Mohammad Al-Ahmari, Head of Media Abdulrahman Al-Marri, and Mujab Al-Imam, a member of the Scientific Committee responsible for overseeing the award and head of the Translation Department.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The delegation began its schedule with the launch event at the ABCC and will hold activities in S\u00e3o Paulo and Rio de Janeiro over the coming days, meeting with translators, professors, publishers and academics. A seminar will be held at the National Library in Rio de Janeiro on Friday (23).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was the award organizers\u2019 first visit to Brazil, Al-Marri said at the event.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe looked at Arabic-Portuguese translation activity, and Brazil emerged as a major force. So we had to visit Brazil, we had to invest in this visit. It is a unique opportunity to follow the development of Arabic-to-Portuguese translation,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Emphasizing the importance of translation, Al-Marri quoted a line from \u201cCan\u00e7\u00e3o do Ex\u00edlio\u201d (Song of Exile), a poem by Brazilian writer Gon\u00e7alves Dias: \u201cMy homeland has palm trees, where the thrush sings.\u201d He added: \u201cTranslators are the thrushes that sing in every land. May the thrush sing in every language.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The event at the ABCC was opened by Silvia Antibas, vice president of marketing, who spoke about the its work, highlighting its cultural initiatives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brief presentations were also given by Christina Stephano de Queiroz, visiting professor at the Edward Said Chair of Contemporary Studies at the Federal University of S\u00e3o Paulo (Unifesp), who discussed the Arab Immigration Memory Digitization Project in Brazil and emphasized the importance of translation and preserving collections; and Nat\u00e1lia Nahas Calfat, president of the Arab Culture Institute (Icarabe), who highlighted the ties between Brazil and the Arab world and the role of language and translation in maintaining those connections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Award Winner<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

When the Sheikh Hamad Award for Translation and International Understanding last accepted entries in Portuguese, in 2019, Safa Jubran, a professor of Arabic Language and Literature at the University of S\u00e3o Paulo (USP), won an award. Speaking at Monday\u2019s event, she described the different stages of Arabic literature translation in Brazil. The country has a tradition of Arabic studies and translation, but Arabic literature has had a limited presence in the commercial publishing market, with more recent momentum in the field following the award.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBrazilian publishers now seek out works directly from Arab countries, negotiating rights and beginning to explore this literature without necessarily relying on prior mediation by Paris, London, New York, Berlin or other major publishing centers,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jubran said she hoped the award would be seen not only as recognition of work already done, but also as an incentive for translation, translator training and publishing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The event at the ABCC was attended by its Vice President for International Relations & Secretary-General, Mohamad Orra Mourad; Khalifa Najeeb Alsada, a diplomat at the Consulate-General of Qatar in S\u00e3o Paulo; and ABCC board member Arthur Jafet, among other institutional representatives and people interested in the award. The event was hosted by Marina Sarruf, the chamber\u2019s marketing director.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The event was organized by the Arab-Brazilian Chamber of Commerce in partnership with Casa \u00c1rabe, Icarabe, Unifesp and Safa Jubran.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Learn more about the award here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Translated by Guilherme Miranda<\/strong><\/p>\n

Marcelo Brammer\/Arab-Brazilian Chamber<\/div>
Marcelo Brammer\/Arab-Brazilian Chamber<\/div>
Marcelo Brammer\/Arab-Brazilian Chamber<\/div>
Marcelo Brammer\/Arab-Brazilian Chamber<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Sheikh Hamad Award for Translation and International Understanding recognizes translations between Arabic and other languages and will include Portuguese in its 2027 edition. The announcement was made at an event at the Arab-Brazilian Chamber on Monday (19)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1455,"featured_media":418753,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[89],"tags":[4143,6560,3034,5630,58430,6313],"class_list":{"0":"post-418768","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-culture","8":"tag-arabic","9":"tag-arabic-language","10":"tag-award","11":"tag-languages","12":"tag-sheikh-hamad-award-2","13":"tag-translation"},"wps_subtitle":"The Sheikh Hamad Award for Translation and International Understanding recognizes translations between Arabic and other languages and will include Portuguese in its 2027 edition. The announcement was made at an event at the Arab-Brazilian Chamber on Monday (19)","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/418768","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1455"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=418768"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/418768\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":418780,"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/418768\/revisions\/418780"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/418753"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=418768"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=418768"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=418768"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}