The awards are given to outstanding Pakistani writers whose work was published in Pakistan in 2013. There were seven categories, including Urdu fiction, Urdu non-fiction, Urdu poetry, Urdu translation, Urdu children's literature, English non-fiction and English children's literature.
Hassan Manzar was judged the best writer in Urdu fiction category for his work 'Insaan, Aye Insaan.' In Urdu non-fiction, Dr Najeeb Jamal was given the award for his book 'Yaqana'. In Urdu poetry category, Khurshid Rizvi was awarded for his work 'Deeryaab' and Afzal Ahmed Syed was declared the best writer in Urdu translation category for his work 'Divan-e-Mir (Farsi) Ma Urdu Tarjuma'. Moreover, 'Dr Akhtar Hameed Khan' earned Rumana Husain an award in Urdu children's literature category. In English non-fiction category, Ayesha Jalal was judged the best writer for her book 'The Pity of Partition'. Interestingly, the English children's literature category was won by a seven-year-old child, Lailamah Giselle Khan for her book 'The Euro Journey of Lailamah Giselle Khan'. She took the honour of becoming the youngest award winner in the UBL Literacy Excellence Awards.
Addressing ceremony, UBL President and CEO Wajahat Husain said the bank is proud of being associated with the awards. He firmly believed in supporting literature, art and culture in the country, as it gives shape to a society. "Pakistan is blessed with a diverse multi-lingual and multi-cultural history of literature. With such a rich heritage as our past, it becomes imperative for organisations to provide patronage and motivation to writers to continue creating literary works of art," he added. Speaking on the occasion, Intizar Hussain appreciated the efforts of UBL in organising the award ceremony for the Pakistani writers. He said such effort should continue in future and more categories should be added in the competition. Asghar Nadeem Syed said also spokes on the occasion.