The winning titles are chosen by groups of selected readers including respected authors, university professors, artists and AANM staff.
[2] To help ensure the continuity of the Arab American Book Award a special endowment fund has been launched with a $10,000 gift from Drs.
Dr. Barbara C. Aswad is Professor Emerita of Anthropology at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan and a past president of the Middle Eastern Studies Association and a Board Member Emerita for the Arab Community Center for Economic and Social Services (ACCESS), parent organization of the Arab American National Museum.
[2] In 2011, the non-fiction prize was renamed to honor the legacy and contributions to Arab American scholarship of Evelyn Shakir, who died of breast cancer in 2010.
Evelyn's longtime partner, poet George Ellenbogen, established the award in collaboration with the Arab American National Museum.