This is an intended annual prize, initiated by Barbara Nimri Aziz, for an unpublished English-language middle-grade manuscript for children ages 8-12. Knowing how much Arab writers in the US and Canada share, we reach out to our creative talent in both these countries.

The prize is set up in the name of our esteemed author Naomi Shihab Nye. A pioneer in her contribution to children’s literature, Nye’s direct association with this prize offers inspiration to fellow Arab American and Arab Canadian writers. Al-Bustan Seeds of Culture is host institution for this distinguished award.

Palestinian-American writer, editor and educator Naomi Shihab Nye grew up in St. Louis, Jerusalem, and San Antonio, Texas, where she graduated from Trinity University and continues to live.  She has been Young People’s Poet Laureate for the U.S. (Poetry Foundation), poetry editor for the New York Times magazine, and The Texas Observer, and a visiting writer in hundreds of schools and communities all over the world. Her books include Everything Comes Next, The Tiny Journalist, Voices in the Air, Sitti’s Secrets, Habibi, This Same Sky, and The Tree is Older than You Are: Poems & Paintings from Mexico. Her volume 19 Varieties of Gazelle: Poems of the Middle East, was a finalist for the National Book Award. The Turtle of Oman and The Turtle of Michigan have both been part of the Little Read program, North Carolina. She has received Lifetime Achievement Awards from The Texas Institute of Letters, the Arab American National Museum, and the National Book Critics Circle.