Hada News
Egypt opens its 2027 State Prizes to 31 December, with about EGP 6.3m in awards and a Nile Prize for an Arab creator
Egypt's Supreme Council of Culture is taking applications and nominations for the 2027 State Prizes in the arts, literature and social sciences from 1 October to 31 December 2026. Awards total about EGP 6.3 million, and one Nile Prize is reserved for a creator from another Arab country.
Egypt's Supreme Council of Culture has opened applications and nominations for the 2027 State Prizes in the arts, literature, social sciences, and legal and economic sciences, according to its 30 September announcement as reported by the Egyptian outlets Al-Nahar and Egyptke. The window runs from 1 October to 31 December 2026.
Al-Nahar puts the total value at about EGP 6.3 million. Four Nile Prizes carry EGP 500,000 and a gold medal each: three for Egyptian creators and one for an Arab creator from outside Egypt. Ten State Appreciation Prizes pay EGP 200,000 each, and seven State Excellence Prizes EGP 100,000 each with a silver medal. The State Encouragement Prizes, for applicants aged 40 or under on 1 October, pay EGP 50,000 each, EGP 1.6 million in total.
The encouragement topics change each round. This year's list includes directing an animated film, movement and staging design in theatre, the science-fiction novel, poetry for children, critical studies of the theatre text, and literary translation into and out of Arabic. Social-science branches include media and social media, and digital culture and AI. Applicants must be Egyptian, may enter only one branch, and the work must have been published, staged or carried out within the past three years. Files go in person to the council's prizes department at its Opera grounds headquarters in Gezira, Cairo, with four copies of the work, which are not returned. Nile and Appreciation prizes go through approved academic and cultural bodies, and private universities may not nominate.
Why it matters: these are Egypt's top state cultural awards, and the encouragement track is one of the few paid national prizes open to young Egyptian filmmakers, theatre makers, writers and translators. The Arab Nile Prize gives creators elsewhere in the region a route in through nominating bodies.
Sources: Supreme Council of Culture announcement, 30 Sep 2026, as reported by Al-Nahar and Egyptke, 30 Sep 2026.
Watch next: the council's list of approved nominating bodies, and any change to the 31 December deadline.