Ibn Battuta Prize for Geographical Literature

Within the framework of the project "Encouraging the Horizons" launched by "Dar Al-Suwaidi" from Abu Dhabi and Beirut, the house announces the specialization of an Arab award under the name (Ibn Battuta Prize for Geographical Literature) and the award is given to the best works achieved in travel literature,It comes in line with the aspirations of the House to revive interest in geographical literature, and its belief in the necessity of contributing to the establishment of free traditions in awarding prizes, and consolidating a symbolic custom in appreciating intellectual giving, and a desire to encourage research and investigation work in the field of geographical literature, and to unearth the hidden and unknown from Arabic and Islamic manuscripts in Covering Arab and international libraries, as well as in order to motivate Arab scholars and investigators to revive and continue an Arab enlightenment project that illuminates the shady corners of Arab culture through its relationship to the place, and travel in it, and an invitation to reveal the Arab’s view of the self and the other, through travel literature, as one of the most prominent fields Writing in the Arab heritage, which has not received sufficient attention commensurate with its paramount importance in various cultures, and its importance is increasing in light of the developments witnessed by the world, and it is negatively reflected on the relationship of Arabs and Muslims with geographies and cultures.On the other hand, Arab geographical literature (and including Arab ethnography) would reveal the nature of the view and ideas that Arabs and Muslims formed about the “other” in the various geographies that their travelers and geographers visited and wrote down their impressions of.

The award is given annually to three successful works. - To encourage Arab authors to write their travel diaries, the committee grants in the same framework an annual prize for the best book written by a contemporary Arab author about a trip or trips he took. - It is also awarded for the best book classified in the section of studies in geographical literature. - And a book that belongs to the literature of the journalistic trip
The house stresses that the material value of the award is a symbolic value, its obsession with urging Arab scholars and researchers concerned with travel literature and geographical research to present their ideas and suggestions to explore this wide world and contribute to the re-editing, study and presentation of printed texts at the end of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries from the heritage of travel literature Which is out of circulation, and most of it is neglected or obscured, and therefore by virtue of the lost and missing, to be agreed with them regarding its re-investigation and publication.