The Hassan II Manuscript Prize award ceremony for the year 2021 took place on Tuesday at the Bab Rouah gallery in Rabat.
During this ceremony, chaired by the Minister of Youth, Culture and Communication, Mohamed Mehdi Bensaid, the Grand Prize of Merit was awarded to Fatima Ezzahra Sqalli Hosseini, following her rich and diversified participation through her manuscript “Tartib Al-Forouq wa Khtissaroha” by Abi Abdellah Mohamed Ben Ibrahim El Bakouri.
The first Encouragement Prize went to Jaafar Naciri (El Jadida), Nadia Homair (Settat), Fatima Ezzahra Sqalli Hosseini (Fez), Houda Naciri (Marrakech), Hicham Benali (Oujda), Sofia Iraki (Casablanca), Abdellah Seriouti (Taza), El Khayati Rifai (Rabat), Abdellatif Zekar (received on his behalf by Khalil Naciri) (Tetouan) and El Kabira Hamdaoui (Béni Mellal).
In addition to the Grand Prize of Merit and the first Encouragement Prize, other Encouragement Prizes were awarded to Jamila Al Mokhtari (El Jadida), Ismail Iraki (Fez), Soumia Naciri (Settat), Abdelkrim Boudlal (Oujda) , Khalil Naciri (Marrakech), Mohamed Lamine (Béni Mellal), Mohamed Hamza Ech-cherif El Kettani (Rabat), Fatima Chekkaf (Dakhla), Abdelkader El Moussaoui (Oujda), Taha Mahmoud Naciri (Marrakech) and Khadija Al Yazidi (El Jadida).
The Prize’s scientific committee, responsible for studying and evaluating the manuscripts and participating documents, awarded 21 Encouragement Prizes, distributed as follows: 10 first Encouragement Prizes, 6 second Encouragement Prizes and 5 third Encouragement Prizes.
Speaking at this ceremony, which was marked by the screening of a documentary on the Hassan II Prize for Manuscripts, Mr. Mehdi Bensaid affirmed that the organization of this Prize, created in 1969, has become a tradition in the Moroccan cultural scene, adding that this is part of the continuous quest for the valorization and promotion of the manuscript heritage of Morocco, rich in terms of knowledge and reflecting its ancestral history as well as the authenticity of its civilization.
“We can only be proud of the merits of this Prize which has accumulated a wealth of historical documents of great scientific and aesthetic value and has enabled the discovery of a precious intellectual production kept in the private coffers of scientific houses. Moroccans”, he said, underlining “the contribution of the Prize to the enrichment of the sources of historical research in our country, through the collection of scattered material and their digitization to make them available to researchers”.
“To establish the scientific influence of the Prize and enhance its achievements, at the beginning of its fifth decade, the Ministry of Youth, Culture and Communication made amendments to the law governing it and increased its value. finance”, affirmed Mr. Bensaid, adding that “in addition to the catalog of the Prize, the ministry saw to the publication of a collective work, made up of six volumes and relating as a whole to the study, analysis and the investigation of important aspects of our Moroccan manuscript heritage”.
The Ministry of Youth, Culture and Communication had announced that this edition allowed the discovery of a total of 294 documents and 177 handwritten books, bringing the total to 254 titles.
The Hassan II Prize for Manuscripts, which is in its 41st edition, was created in 1969, with the main objective of contributing to the collection of manuscript heritage owned by Moroccan families, its digitization and the delivery of copies to the National Library of Morocco. Kingdom of Morocco and the Archives of Morocco in Rabat, in addition to raising awareness among families in possession of this heritage as to its intellectual and symbolic importance.
Since its creation, the Prize has contributed to the discovery, inventory, photocopying or digitization of 37,509 manuscripts and documents.
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