The rise and rise of Muslim awards
This week sees not one, but two, glittering awards ceremonies designed to recognise achievement and encourage talent in the Muslim communities. The Muslim News Awards for Excellence was held on Tuesday to recognise individuals and organisations for contributions in areas ranging from arts and science, to citizenship and enterprise. Now in its 8th year the awards have shown consistency and have made a real impact on promoting the positive contribution of British Muslims to British society. As this year's guest of honour David Milliband said, he was proud of the Awards not just as a politician, but also as a fellow citizen.
This evening will see the second Muslim Writers Awards which are aimed at encouraging Muslims to reach out more to their pens and keyboards and find their voices. Gordon Brown pledged his support for the awards, stating: "This is a wonderful opportunity to bring excellent writing by Muslim writers to new audiences, and increase the mutual understanding of the people of Britain." Again the event is a glittering event being held at the ICC, as a black tie do.
And I should modestly mention that I have been shortlisted for one of the Muslim Writers Awards, apparently from amongst 10,000 entries. If I win, the blog will show jubilation. If it goes all quiet tomorrow, dear readers, you'll know why...
This evening will see the second Muslim Writers Awards which are aimed at encouraging Muslims to reach out more to their pens and keyboards and find their voices. Gordon Brown pledged his support for the awards, stating: "This is a wonderful opportunity to bring excellent writing by Muslim writers to new audiences, and increase the mutual understanding of the people of Britain." Again the event is a glittering event being held at the ICC, as a black tie do.
And I should modestly mention that I have been shortlisted for one of the Muslim Writers Awards, apparently from amongst 10,000 entries. If I win, the blog will show jubilation. If it goes all quiet tomorrow, dear readers, you'll know why...
Labels: blog, Muslim, Muslim News
posted by Shelina Zahra Janmohamed at 10:32
2 Comments:
Firstly, congratulations on your award Shelina.
Having been to both events myself I must say I was marginally impressed (more so by the Writers Awards than the News) I find that there are an increasing number of so-called "Muslims" who are jumping on the "Muslim issues bandwagon" and going to events such as these to get notices, or simply to network for personal ambitions and goals (be that political, social or financial aims) - Do you not think that rather than Muslims giving each other awards, writers (irrespective of ethnicity and religion) should be aiming to win awards in the mainstream media?
Thanks for the congratulations!
I think partly what you say is right - Muslims don't need to wear their faith as a label on their sleeves, and should and can win awards in the mainstream like any other british subject.
However, as Faisal Yousifzai the organiser of the awards said, the ten thousand entries they received may not have otherwise entered a writing award, but more importantly may not even have identified themselves as potential writers. Whether their beliefs were right or wrong are irrelevant - what is important is the de facto status, and how these awards ceremonies are contributing to change the status quo.
However, we should also note that awards which focus on a particular sector of the wider public are not unknown to us. For example the Orange Broadband prize is aimed at women. The also have an award for new writers. There are the Christian book awards, and the Jewish Quarterly literary prize. I'm not familiar with these awards, but I think it shows that whilst some awards at the highest levels should be broadbrush, sometimes more granularity can bring to light gems that otherwise may be hidden. Further, as tastes develop and new perspectives appear in our midst, new writings and artists and achievers may need this specificity in order to be recognised before they fall into the parameters of acceptability for mass audiences.
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