King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz International Award for Translation
King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz International Award for Translation (previously Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz International Award for Translation (2008-2014)) is a Saudi international literary award for the translation of works to/from Arabic. The Chairman of the award is Prince Abdulaziz bin Abdullah. The award is located in King Abdul Aziz Public Library in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. It was established on 31 October, 2006 upon the approval of the King Abdulaziz Public Library Council. The vision of the award is "to promote cultural exchange among peoples  of the world and to advance intellectual interaction among civilizations." The first award was presented in 2008 for works published in 2007. The shared prize of $1 million was called the richest translation award in the world. Prizes of $200,000 each are awarded in four categories for translations in the fields of the humanities, religion, literature and natural sciences, into and out of Arabic, with a fifth special prize for institutions that promote translation. Little information about the prize is known, such as how it is administered, who is in contention, why the winners were chosen, what expectations  there are of the winners. The 2009 ceremony was held in Casablanca. One of the 2009 winners, Hartmut Fähndrich, said that (as of October 2012) only a fraction of the prize money he was supposed to have shared with an Arab colleague has arrived so far. Fähndrich said "I feel I've been cheated". The 2011 ceremony was held in Beijing, attended by Prince Abdulaziz bin Abdullah, Chinese Minister of Culture Cai Wu, Saudi Ambassador to China Yahya Al-Zaid. The 2012 ceremony was held in Berlin, attended by Prince Abdulaziz bin Abdullah and the Mayor of Berlin Klaus Wowereit . It was a private ceremony by invitation only. The 2013 ceremony was held at the library in Riyadh. Winners. Source: 2008 (First Session) 2009 (Second Session) 2010 (Third Session) 2011 (Fourth Session) 2012 (Fifth Session) 2013 (Sixth Session) 2014 (Seventh Session) 2015 (Eighth Session)