The Ministry of Youth, Culture, and Communication—Culture Department has officially announced that applications are now open for the 55th edition of the Morocco Book Prize, set for 2024.

This prestigious award spans several categories, including the “Morocco Prize for Poetry,” “Morocco Prize for Narrative,” “Morocco Prize for Human Sciences,” “Morocco Prize for Social Sciences,” “Morocco Prize for Literary, Artistic, and Linguistic Studies,” “Morocco Prize for Translation,” “Morocco Prize for Amazigh Literature,” “Morocco Prize for Studies in Amazigh Culture,” and “Morocco Prize for Children’s and Young Adult Literature,” according to a ministry statement.

The competition is open to Moroccan writers, poets, critics, researchers, intellectuals, and translators for works published in Morocco or abroad in their first edition in 2023. Eligible books can be written in Arabic, Amazigh, Hassani, or foreign languages, and must meet legal deposit requirements.

However, certain restrictions apply: books authored by more than two people are ineligible, and past recipients of the award from the past three years are also excluded, the ministry clarified.

Applicants must submit their entries by October 21, 2024, through a two-step process. First, candidates must register online via the official platform (http://prixlivre.minculture.gov.ma) and print the registration receipt. Afterward, they must send the physical submission to the Office of the Directorate of Books, Libraries, and Archives at 17 Rue Michlifen, Agdal, Rabat. The submission package should include the printed registration receipt and eight copies of the nominated book.

For the Morocco Prize for Translation, the submission must include three copies of the original book and eight copies of the translated work, along with a document certifying the translation rights.

Additionally, the ministry noted that once a book is submitted, it cannot be returned to the sender.