A total of 15 foreign writers, translators and publishers won China's top publication prize for introducing China and Chinese culture to the world at a ceremony held here on Tuesday.

Twelve people won the Special Book Award of China and the other three received the Special Book Award for Young Scholars. For the first time, the winners included individuals from Israel, Kazakhstan, Greece and Iraq.

Huang Kunming, a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and head of the Publicity Department of the CPC Central Committee, met the winners and presented the awards to them.

Among the winners of the Special Book Award of China was a translator from Iraq who rendered "Romance of the Three Kingdoms," a 14th-century historical novel by Luo Guanzhong, and "Strange Tales From A Chinese Studio," a collection of classical Chinese stories by 17th-century writer Pu Songling.

Inaugurated in 2005, the awards are China's top publication prize that honors foreigners for making great contributions to the introduction and promotion of China, Chinese culture and Chinese publications to the world.

Since then, the awards have seen a total of 138 winners from 53 countries.