Hada News
Naguib Mahfouz novel prize extends its deadline to 15 November
Egypt's Supreme Council of Culture offers EGP 75,000 for the best Egyptian novel and the same for the best Arab novel. Books must have been published in 2024 or 2025.
Arab novelists with a book out in 2024 or 2025 have more time to enter the 2026 Naguib Mahfouz Novel Prize for Egypt and the Arab World. Egypt's Supreme Council of Culture said on 15 October that it would now accept entries until 15 November 2026.
The money. The prize has two branches, best Egyptian novel and best Arab novel, each worth EGP 75,000, or EGP 150,000 in total. Egyptian and other Arab writers may enter whether they live in their home countries or abroad.
The rules. The novel must already be published, with a 2024 or 2025 release. It cannot have won an earlier award, and it must not be entered in any other competition until this one announces its results. Entrants send four printed copies plus a PDF; books are not returned, and the council will not pay costs linked to international parcels.
The paperwork. All in PDF: a short CV, a copy of a national ID card or passport (every passport, for those with more than one nationality), and bank details — a bank letter with an account number for applicants inside Egypt, or an IBAN for those abroad.
Where to send it. Entries can be delivered by hand or posted to the council's headquarters on Gabalaya Street, in the Opera House grounds in Zamalek (Gezira), Cairo. The call also lists an email address and an online form for the application.
The prize is part of the council's programme marking 20 years since Mahfouz's death in 2006.
Why it matters: With EGP 75,000 per branch and a field limited to 2024–25 titles that have not won before, the prize is aimed at recent, unrewarded novels from Egypt and the Arab world.