King Mohammed chairs grand merit and Morocco book prizes ceremony

Morocco's King Mohammed VI, accompanied by Prince Moulay Rachid, chaired in Marrakesh Thursday evening at the royal palace the awarding ceremony of the Merit Grand Prix and Morocco book prizes for the year 1999.

Culture and communication minister Mohamed Achaari underscored, early in the ceremony, the special interest the king granted culture saying it was as important as sectors of economy, agriculture and new technologies and part of an overall vision encompassing the civilization and historical dimension of the kingdom.

The Merit grand-prize went to plastic arts and poet Mohamed Kacimi for his works while Abdelkader Chaoui received literary creativity prize for the novel "The place of Honor."

The literary and artistic essay prize went to "National Trends in Moroccan Modern Prose Under the Protectorate (1912-1956)" by Ahmed Ziadi.

Abdellatif Kamal's "Analysis of Despotism Origins: Reading in Sultans Literature" and Benaceur Bouazzati's "Argumentation and structuring: Research on Scientific Spirit specifics" shared the human, social and legal sciences prize.

Two other major prizes awarded are the translation prize which went to Mohamed Ellaouzi for "Beyond the River: Anthology of the Iranian Contemporary Novella" and the technology sciences prize to Ismail Boujnane for his book "Sheep-Family Resources in Morocco."