University of Kurdistan launches Mastoureh Award

Shafaq News- Sanandaj

The University of Kurdistan in Iran launched the first Mastoureh International Award on Wednesday, with the inaugural edition scheduled for May and June 2027, Iranian media outlets said.

The award covers four main categories: science, culture and arts, social work, and religious and humanitarian fields, with judging panels of academics, intellectuals and civil society representatives selecting four main winners and four recipients of honorary awards.

According to Bahman Bahramnejad, the university’s vice president for research and innovation, the initiative recognizes women’s historical and contemporary role in preserving and developing the region’s literary and cultural heritage.

Yadgar Karimi, director of the university’s Kurdish Studies Center, said civil society organizations and literary associations proposed the award following previous initiatives celebrating intellectual work, adding that it would recognize not only prominent figures but also women who have brought positive change to local communities and remote villages.

Mastoureh Award international scope aims to connect the intellectual and humanitarian legacy of historical figures with contemporary cultural standards and highlight women’s contributions to intellectual and social life, he pointed out.

The award takes its name from Mah Sharaf Khanom Qaderi (1805–1847), better known as Mastoureh Ardalan, a Kurdish poet and historian from Sanandaj who produced works in poetry, history, Islamic law and religious thought, including a poetry collection and Tarikh-e Ardalan (History of Ardalan). She later moved to Al-Sulaymaniyah, in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, where she died.