Franco-Tunisian researcher and sound director Hajer Ben Boubaker is the winner of the 19th UNESCO-Sharjah Prize for Arab Culture, also awarded to Lebanese actor and director Kassem Istanbouli.
A ceremony was held on June 26 at UNESCO headquarters in Paris to award the $60,000 prize, divided equally between the two winners, selected on the recommendation of an international jury.
Hajer Ben Boubaker thus becomes the third Tunisian to have won this prize, after Abdelwahab Bouhdiba and El Seed.
Abdelwahab Bouhdiba was a researcher and professor of sociology at the University of Tunis, who also headed the Tunisian Academy of Sciences, Letters and Arts, Beit Al Hikma. The prize was awarded to him in 2004, ex aequo, with the Spanish historian Juan Vernet Guinès, who is a leading specialist in Arab science and the development of science - particularly astronomy and cartography - in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance.
In 2016, the Franco-Tunisian calligrapher EL Seed was the joint winner of the 14th Unesco-Sharjah Prize for Arab Culture, with the Egyptian artist, designer and art historian Bahia Chiheb.
The UNESCO-Sharjah Prize for Arab Culture rewards the outstanding artistic achievements of the laureates, who celebrate Arab art and culture throughout the world. At the heart of UNESCO's anti-racism and anti-discrimination programme, the Prize promotes peace and dialogue to foster intercultural understanding and celebrate diversity.
Created in 1998 on the initiative of the United Arab Emirates and managed by UNESCO, each year it rewards two laureates - individuals, groups or institutions - who, through their work and outstanding achievements, work to make Arab art and culture better known.
Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse