the committees of the national council for culture, arts and letters (nccal), under full control and direct intervention of his excellency the minister of information, as usual at this time of year, distributed the state appreciation and incentive awards to a group of young men and women.
since i have never been and will never be a recipient of any of these awards, with all due respect for the nccal its role and necessity, i have, for many reasons passed it and therefore i have the freedom to direct what is possible to criticize it, especially more than 30 years have passed and it is time to re-evaluate the idea and the basics of awarding this award in light of the fact that any project that is not developed and renewed to keep abreast with the age loses its usefulness over time and clearly becomes damaging.
i personally see that any political interference in the awarding of any state prize is meaningless and it is not appropriate for a country that has preceded its surroundings in the margins of freedom.
“the content of the award is large and oversized to blend creativity and research with arts, literature and other humanities. every field has 13 branches, and it is necessary to dismantle and differentiate between what is innovative and what is research, said an expert and man of intellect.
he also believes that the system of the award has exceeded the time and no longer aimed at encouragement and motivation after favoritism became the order of the day. we have seen some awards given to a candidate several times in different branches, while others are denied, although the goal is to encourage, motivate, for just one time and not several times.
the system of selection is not compatible with contemporary systems with regard awards both locally and externally, where systems have developed. there are long and short list systems that are designed to motivate. those who do not win, their works are highlighted and here we serve the writer and publisher and the system is an incentive for all parties.
the management of the current system lacks both professionalism and transparency where those shortlisted to receive an award do not know whether they will be the recipient or not. to add insult to injury, they are not even informed whether their works comply with the terms and conditions of the award, and do not even receive a letter of appreciation.
the public is not aware of the number of participants or how the arbitration is conducted or the names of the jury. a well-known plastic artist participated in a painting competition and did not win, and when it was returned to him, he discovered that it was still in the same cover, and this is the evidence that it was not even presented to any committee. the award site on the internet is also poor compared to sites of similar regional awards.
to prove what i mentioned about the political intervention in the award distribution, a distinguished friend in his fi eld wrote a huge encyclopedia about the history of engineering in kuwait, spent a lot of money on it from his own pocket and it took five years to complete this rare encyclopedia and then received an incentive award although he was eighty years old.
can we consider it incentive award at this age and this status? instead of awarding an award of appreciation, which he deserves, somebody changed the prize in the last 24 hours and it was equally shared by the distinguished figure and another female author.
this was a fl awed act against the man and the award.