Heh - and the winner is...

Fun story from The Jerusalem Post:

Jewish woman wins Arab poetry contest using pseudonym
Using a pseudonym, a Jewish woman won an Arab poetry contest in Holland.

Tuvit Shlomi, 28, who works at the Center for Information and Documentation on Israel and attends an Orthodox synagogue in The Hague, won the prestigious El Hizjra Prize, a poetry award designed to promote the culture of Arab immigrants to Holland, particularly those from Morocco.

In a bid to ensure her work would be judged on the merits of its content rather than authorship, Shlomi submitted her poems using the pseudonym Wallada bint al-Mustaqfi, who was an 11th-century Andalusian poet and feminist.

"With an Israeli name, I could imagine they would see the entry and say 'nope, " Shlomi told JTA in a telephone interview.

The award recognizes emerging poets in Dutch, Arabic and Berber. Shlomi won in the 26-plus age category for her poems "My Dream is Dead" and "Ready for Winter."

In accordance with regulations, Shlomi informed contest organizers of her real name.

Abderazak Sbaiti, director of the El Hizjra Center for Arabic Art and Culture, told a Dutch daily he was pleased for Shlomi.

Shlomi's participation "proves how multicultural the Netherlands are," Sbaiti said.

Noting that the contest was not limited to those of Moroccan or Arabic background, he said, "We accept all cultures."

The results of the contest were announced last week.

One of the contest's judges, Erik Lindner, said Shlomi's concerns about using her real name were unfounded. Poems were judged on style and language, not theme or name.

Very cool for her and very cool for the judges to allow her to keep the prize. I bet there are a few not-as-tolerant panties in a bunch though. Perfect choice of pseudonym -- the judges should have caught the reference...