Honours
Over four decades he was honoured in Egypt, across the Arab world and by the international bodies of children’s literature: the State Prize in 1975, the King Faisal International Prize in 1991, two places on the IBBY Honour List and three nominations for the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award.
Principal honours
- 1975
State Prize for Children's Literature
Egyptian State (Supreme Council of Culture)
Egypt's State Prize for Children's Literature, awarded for his collection 'Arab Stories' ('A Tale from Every Arab Country'), published by Dar al-Shaab.
- 1981
State Prize for Children's Culture, with the Order of the Republic
Egyptian State (Supreme Council of Culture); President of Egypt
He was the first person to receive Egypt's State Prize for Children's Culture, and was awarded the Order of the Republic (Second Class) with it.
- 1991
King Faisal International Prize for Arabic Language and Literature (Children's Literature)
King Faisal Prize (King Faisal Foundation)
His most prestigious honour. The 1991 prize topic was Children's Literature; he shared it with the Tunisian poet Ali Abd al-Qadir al-Siqilli. It was presented by Prince Sultan bin Abdulaziz. The citation praised his efforts to spread awareness of children's literature through study, creative writing and the organisation of conferences and seminars; his drawing on everyday life in village and city, turning the familiar into enjoyable stories that carry knowledge and religious and moral values, in language suited to each stage of childhood; and a literary style that blends imagination and reality. He was nominated by the Arabic Department, Faculty of Arts, Cairo University.

Abdeltawab Youssef receiving the King Faisal International Prize for Arabic Literature, 1991 - 2000
New Horizons Award, Bologna Children's Book Fair
Bologna Children's Book Fair (BolognaRagazzi, New Horizons category)
The newly illustrated Dar El Shorouk edition of The Life of Muhammad in Twenty Stories, with pictures by Salah Bissar, won the fair's New Horizons prize, chosen from more than 1,500 titles from around the world.
- 2000
IBBY Honour List 2000 (Writing): the Toshka series
International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY), Basel
Selected for the IBBY Honour List 2000 for writing, representing Egypt with his Toshka series about the Toshka development project in the southern desert. He travelled to the IBBY World Congress in Cartagena de Indias, Colombia, to receive it.
- 2007
Nominated by the Bibliotheca Alexandrina for the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award (three consecutive years)
Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award (ALMA), Sweden
The Bibliotheca Alexandrina nominated him, in the category 'Author and Promoter of Reading', for the world's largest children's literature award for three years in a row; the first dossier was submitted in May 2007. His name is on ALMA's published list of candidates for 2009.
- 2012
IBBY Honour List 2012 (Translation)
International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY)
Named to the international Honour List a second time, now for translation: his Arabic rendering of Hans Christian Andersen’s “Muhammad’s Birthday: A Scene in Constantinople” (Al-Dar Al-Masriah Al-Lubnaniah, 2009).
- 2013
Yusuf bin Ahmed Kanoo Award (Bahrain)
Yusuf bin Ahmed Kanoo Award, Bahrain
A pan-Arab award presented in Bahrain, which he received at its seventh awards ceremony, in April 2013.

Abdeltawab Youssef receives the crystal trophy of the Yusuf bin Ahmed Kanoo Award at the prize-giving ceremony of the award's seventh cycle, Bahrain, 2013.
Ceremonies and certificates











The complete record
1970s
- 1970Egyptian
First Prize for Rural Child Culture
Supreme Council for Youth and Sports
- 1974Arab
Award of the Kindergarten Department, Kuwait Ministry of Education
Ministry of Education, Kuwait
- 1975Egyptian
State Prize for Children's Literature
Egyptian State (Supreme Council of Culture)
- 1975Egyptian
Order of Sciences and Arts, First Class
President of Egypt (Anwar El-Sadat)
- 1975International
UNESCO literacy award
UNESCO
- 1978Arab
Al-Raid Journal Award (Kuwait) for the best research on kindergarten stories
Al-Raid Journal, Kuwait
- 1979Egyptian
Golden Medal of Giving (Wisam al-'Ata' al-Dhahabi)
Ministry of Education (Arab Centre for Educational Films)
- 1979Arab
Gold Medal of the Arab States Broadcasting Union
Arab States Broadcasting Union (ASBU)
1980s
- 1980Egyptian
Golden Medal of Productivity, Egyptian Ministry of Education
Egyptian Ministry of Education
- 1980Arab
International Year of the Child Medal (Baghdad); Egyptian Radio and Television Union Medal; ALECSO Certificate of Appreciation
Baghdad (Iraq) / Egyptian Radio and Television Union / ALECSO
- 1981Egyptian
State Prize for Children's Culture, with the Order of the Republic
Egyptian State (Supreme Council of Culture); President of Egypt
- 1982Egyptian
Pioneer Broadcasters Certificate; Certificate of Merit for his children's programme (Radio Egypt)
Egyptian Radio
- 1985Egyptian
Cairo Radio and Television Appreciation Award
Egyptian Radio and Television Union
- 1987Arab
International Babylon Festival Award
International Babylon Festival
1990s
- 1990Arab
ALECSO Award (Arab League Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organization)
ALECSO, Tunis
- 1991International
King Faisal International Prize for Arabic Language and Literature (Children's Literature)
King Faisal Prize (King Faisal Foundation)
- 1991Egyptian
Medal of the Egyptian Zoological Gardens
Egyptian Zoological Gardens, Giza
- 1992Egyptian
Armed Forces Prize for October War Literature (First Prize)
Egyptian Armed Forces
- 1995International
Award of the Association of Islam and Arab Culture in the New World
Association of Islam and Arab Culture in the New World
- 1998Egyptian
First Prize, Best Writer for Children
Children's Culture Committee, Supreme Council of Culture (Ministry of Culture)
- 1999Egyptian
Suzanne Mubarak Prize (Certificate of Merit)
Suzanne Mubarak Children's Literature Prize
2000s
- 2000Egyptian
Suzanne Mubarak Prize
Suzanne Mubarak Children's Literature Prize
- 2000International
New Horizons Award, Bologna Children's Book Fair
Bologna Children's Book Fair (BolognaRagazzi, New Horizons category)
- 2000International
IBBY Honour List 2000 (Writing): the Toshka series
International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY), Basel
- 2000Egyptian
Medal of the Egyptian Writers' Union for 20 years of membership and service
Egyptian Writers' Union
- 2001International
Selected as one of 14 international writers, Berlin International Literature Festival
International Literature Festival Berlin
- 2002Arab
Lisan al-Arab (Arab Tongue) Award, Arab League
League of Arab States
- 2002Arab
Award of the Jordanian Regional Office of the League of Islamic Literature (14 September 2002)
League of Islamic Literature, Jordan regional office
- 2002Egyptian
Certificate of Appreciation, Union for Supporting People with Special Needs (October 2002)
Union for Supporting People with Special Needs and Disabilities
- 2003Egyptian
Award of the 9th Radio and Television Union Festival, Cairo
Egyptian Radio and Television Union
- 2004Arab
Award of the General Union of Arab Writers (Syria and Lebanon)
General Union of Arab Writers
- 2007Arab
Certificate of Merit, First Gulf Development Conference, Kuwait (29 April – 1 May 2007)
First Gulf Development Conference
- 2007International
Nominated by the Bibliotheca Alexandrina for the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award (three consecutive years)
Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award (ALMA), Sweden
2010s
- 2012International
IBBY Honour List 2012 (Translation)
International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY)
- 2013Arab
Yusuf bin Ahmed Kanoo Award (Bahrain)
Yusuf bin Ahmed Kanoo Award, Bahrain
Honoured in memory
- 2016
Celebration of the life of Abdeltawab Youssef, Children's Culture Committee, Supreme Council of Culture (30 January 2016)
An official tribute evening under the patronage of the Minister of Culture, held at the Supreme Council of Culture on the Cairo Opera House grounds, with testimonies from leading writers, critics and broadcasters.
- 2017
For the Love of Abdel-Tawab Youssef, Al-Rowad (Pioneers) series, Cairo University
A bilingual refereed volume of studies and testimonies in his honour, in Cairo University’s Al-Rowad series, with a foreword by the university’s president, Gaber Gad Nassar.