Morocco’s Minister of Youth, Culture, and Communication Mehdi Bensaid has decided to withdraw the 2021 Morocco Book Prize from nine winners after they appeared unwilling to split the prize money between them. Bensaid reached out to the concerned awardees legally, according to reports.

Ministry of Culture Withdraws Moroccan Book Prize from 9 Writers

Rabat – Morocco’s Minister of Youth, Culture, and Communication Mehdi Bensaid has decided to withdraw the 2021 Morocco Book Prize from nine winners after they appeared unwilling to split the prize money between them. Bensaid reached out to the concerned awardees legally, according to reports.

A source confirmed to MWN that there had been a misinterpretation of Article 13 of the Decree governing the award and that the prize had been reduced to its material value “which was unacceptable.”

The Decree witnessed three rectifications over time, with the prize going from MAD 70,000 ($7148) to MAD 120,000 ($12,253). “The principle of equal financial value exists in a number of international and national awards,” the source said.

The book award winners were: Yahya El Yahyaoui, Yahya Ben El Walid, Idriss Makboul, Ahmed Bouhassan, Mohammed El-Jarti, Taieb Amkroud, Mohamed Ali Rabaoui, Hassan Oubrahim, and Boubkar Bouhadi.

The nine writers and novelists had sent a group letter to the Minister on January 13, 2022, with their ID cards, requesting that they be able to receive the full amount of the award they received in half based on their reading of article 13 of the decree governing the award.

According to the source, they “refused to share the prize” and demanded the activation of Article 13 of the decree to obtain the MAD 120,000 ($12,253) each.

Two months ago, the ministry’s cultural department began working on a new decree to raise the value of the Moroccan Book Prize — both financially and legally.

In response to the petition, Minister Bensaid decided to withdraw the Morocco Book Award from the nine writers. From the minister’s perspective, one source argued, “it is not acceptable that the prize undergo any bidding or financial bargaining.”

192 books participated in the 2021 Morocco Book Prize, including 42 of them on storytelling, 30 on literary, artistic and linguistic studies, 21 on social sciences, and 20 on poetry.

Books on Amazigh culture also featured in the competition.