• Power and identity in the 21st Century
  

• Arab culture in a globalized world

The Beirut19 philosophy is inspired by Beirut39 which aims to encourage the debate of important issues between young Arab writers, as well as to allow them to share and cultivate their writing talents. Beirut39 is a collaboration between the Hay Festival and Beirut World Capital of the Book 2009 bringing together 39 of the most talented writers of Arab heritage under 39 years of age; the Beirut39 finalists will be present at the Beirut39 Festival/ book fair in April 2010 in Beirut.

• Participants must be of Arab nationality and should be residing in Qatar.

• Participants must be between 12 and 19 year old.

• Participants must register before January 24th 2010 (12:00 noon)

• Participants will be grouped in two main categories: Juniors (age 12-15) and Youth (age 16-19)

• Writings can be submitted in Arabic or English

• Writings must be submitted before February 14th 2010 (12:00 noon)

• An official jury in Qatar will evaluate all the writings and select the top 20 that will be sent to the Beirut19 international jury

• The top 4 finalists in Qatar will be sponsored by Reach Out to Asia to attend the Beirut39 Festival in Beirut from the 15th to the 18th of April 2010.

• The top 20 writings (10 from each age category) will be sent to the international Beirut19 jury. The jury will select 39 young writers and 4 international finalists among all the participating countries.

• A winner and a prize for each theme and each age - a total of 14 prizes.

• All participants will be invited to the “Young Arab Writers in Qatar” award ceremony event in March 2010.