Wednesday 11 / November / 2026
Muscat: The Sultan Qaboos Higher Centre for Culture and Science, at the Diwan of the Royal Court, on Wednesday announced the winners of the 13th edition of Sultan Qaboos Award for Culture, Arts and Literature.
The 2026 edition, which was allocated to Omanis only, covered the areas of “Family and Childhood Studies in the Sultanate of Oman”, “Arabic Calligraphy” and “Short Stories”.
Calligrapher Sami bin Zain Al Ghawi won first place in the field of Arabic calligraphy (Arts branch). In the field of “Short stories” (Literature branch), writer Yahya bin Salam Al Mandhari was granted the first award in recognition for his collection titled “A Short Time for Panic”, while the award was withheld in the field of “Family and Childhood Studies in the Sultanate of Oman” (Culture branch).
Habib bin Mohammed Al Riyami, Chairman of the Sultan Qaboos Higher Centre for Culture and Science, delivered a speech during which he explained that the decision to withhold the award in the field of “Family and Childhood Studies” was based on the recommendation of the committee, after the results of sorting and arbitration showed the existence of some methodological observations about the some of participating inputs/works—notably observations related to the soundness of the research structure, the accuracy and clarity of the theoretical and conceptual frameworks and the extent to which the works meet the general conditions of the award.
“The committee in charge expressed its appreciation for the efforts made by the contesters, but the relative excellence of some of the works, compared to counterparts, is not necessarily sufficient to grant the award, due to the fact that the works have to meet the required scientific standards,” Al Riyami observed.
The committee’s opinion was based on the fact that “none of the participating works reached the required scientific level of originality, quality and methodological integration”, said Al Riyami, noting that this necessitated a recommendation to withhold the award in this field. He added that the decision stemmed from a keenness to preserve the scientific and cultural status of the award and to consolidate the standards of quality, originality and excellence on which the award is based.
“The decision to withhold the award does not diminish the scientific value of the participating works or underestimate the efforts made in preparing them, but rather reflects the committee’s keenness to link the award to the realization of high levels of scientific excellence”, said Al Riyami, noting that it was recommended to forward the recommendation to the relevant contesters so that they could benefit from those observations in developing their future contributions.
The areas of competition related to the 13th edition of the award were announced at a ceremony held on 17 December 2025, while nominations were allowed to be processed electronically through the award’s website from 24 March 2026 to 18 July 2026.
The number of applicants who met the requirements stood at 204—among them 50 candidates in the field of “Family and Childhood Studies”, 41 in the field of “Arabic Calligraphy” and 113 in the field of “Short Stories”.
It is worth noting that the Sultan Qaboos Award for Culture, Arts and Literature aims to support the domains of culture, art and literature, contribute to the progress of scientific and intellectual development, consolidate the accumulation of knowledge and instill the values of originality and innovation across generations.
The award seeks to honour intellectuals, artists and writers in appreciation forrecognition of their contribution to the renewal of thought and the elevation of human conscience, in addition to providing human civilization with material, intellectual and cognitive accomplishments.
