11th UBL Literature and Arts Awards honour best of Pakistani writers and artistes

The 11th UBL Literature and Arts Awards were held in Karachi at a hotel on Saturday.

People from all walks of life attended the awards, including writers, literary persons and media personalities, socialites, and celebrities. At every event, the celebrated awards recognize and celebrate the best of Pakistani writers and artists, honouring a longstanding commitment to arts and literature.

The various award categories received hundreds of nominations from all over Pakistan. The competition was open to all Pakistani authors who had published their original work in 2021 and 2022. Entries were shortlisted by an esteemed panel of judges. The jury members in the Urdu categories were Dr Asghar Nadeem Syed, Dr Arfa Syeda, Dr Anwaar Ahmed, Kishwar Naheed and Dr Nasir Abbas Nayyar, while jury members for the English categories included Dr Naazir Mahmood, Dr Aroosa Kanwal and Haris Khaleeq.

The winners in each category as declared at the Awards were: Children’s Urdu Literature, for which the award was given to Ahmed Tariq; for Children’s English Literature, the award was given to Marzia Abbas; Translation into Urdu awards was given to Yasmeen Hameed and Inam Nadeem.

For Urdu Poetry, the award was given to Mohsin Shakeel, and for Pakistani Languages, the award was given to Waqar Ali Shab.

For English fiction, the award was given to Haroon Khalid Akhter, for English non-fiction, an award was given to Khalid Akhter, for Urdu fiction, the award was given to Shaheed Abbas, and for Urdu non-fiction, award was given to Aurangzeb Khan Niazi. The song lyric award was given to Sabir Zafer.

The awards also included a special category to celebrate the wide-reaching impact of a celebrated artist who has produced exemplary work across a long, distinguished career. The prestigious ‘Lifetime Achievement’ award was awarded to the exemplary Zaheda Hina.

The ceremony was hosted by Sajid Hassan and Faiza Gillani. The awards were interspersed by light entertainment provided by violinist Saleem, Dastan Go by Fawad Khan of NAPA, a classical dance performance by Sumaira Ali, ghazal and geet by Moazzam Ali Khan and a sitar & tabla performance.

Deputy CEO UBL Zia Ijaz, in his message during the awards, said as a responsible corporate citizen UBL has played its part in the betterment of society through many of its own efforts. “The UBL Literature & Arts Awards have been a cornerstone of one of our initiatives of giving back to the society through the recognition of indigenous talent across the country.”

He said that with each iteration of the award, the UBL Literature & Arts Awards support, motivate and celebrate talented Pakistani writers. The Bank recognizes the importance of arts and literature in helping society feel fulfilled, inspired and proud of its roots. It encourages budding Pakistani artistes to continue producing their works in a variety of different genres, knowing that there are celebrated local platforms where they can be recognized. It is through such ventures that the literary tradition lives on and benefits the current and future generations.