Five best books to be given awards

JAKARTA: The Buku Utama Foundation has said it would hand out its annual awards for the five best books published in the country in 2000 and 2001 on Nov. 5.

Soekarman K, the secretary of the foundation, said the five best books were in the areas of literature, science and technology, social issues, translation and children's books.

"We carried out the selection between May and September from about 125 books published in 2000 and 150 books in 2001," he told a news conference on Thursday.

The winners will receive Rp 5 million (US$555) each from the foundation, he said.

The awards will be handed out by the Minister of National Education Abdul Malik Fajar, the chairman of the foundation. -- JP