Star Menna Shalaby won the Best Actress Award for her role in the film Nawara at the closing ceremony of the 21st Egyptian National Film Festival held at the Cairo Opera House. The ceremony was attended by a large number of Egyptian celebrities, where awards were announced and many stars were honored under the motto "Cinema, Tomorrow's Beam".

The number of awards received by star Menna Shalaby for her role in Nawara have reached eight awards, as she recently won the Best Actress award at the 2nd Arabian Cinema Awards (ACA), and before that she won the same award at the Dubai International Film Festival (DIFF), where the film landed its world premiere, and also at Malmö Arab Film Festival, Egyptian Catholic Center Cinema Festival, Egyptian Cinema Film Association Festival, Festival International du Cinéma Méditerranéen de Tétouan and the Oran International Film Festival. Since its first week of release in Egyptian theaters, Nawara managed to top the Egyptian box office.

Most recently, Menna won the Critics' Award for Best Actress at the Arab Satellite Channels Festival for her role in director Kamla Abouzekri's TV series Wahet El Ghoroub that was aired last Ramadan.

Menna Shalaby is a young Egyptian actress who began her acting career in 2001 by taking part in one of the most popular TV dramas at the time, Hadeeth Al Sabah Wal Masaa (Morning and Evening Talk). Shalaby performed a variety of roles in comedy, drama, action and romance films. Her famous cinematic roles include: Baheb El Cima (I Love Cinema) (2004), Ahla al Awqat (The Best of Times) (2004), Heya Fawda (Chaos) (2007), Baad El Mawkeaa (After the Battle) (2012), Nawara (2015), Al Ma' wal Khodra wal Wajh al Hassan (Brooks, Meadows and Lovely Faces) (2016) and Al Aslyeen (The Originals) (2017). Shalaby's most successful TV roles include Neeran Sadeeqa (Friendly Fire) (2013), Haret El Yahoud (Jewish Quarter) (2015) and Wahet El Ghoroub (2017). Shalaby won many awards throughout her career such as the Best Actress Award for her role in the film Nawara (2015) at each of the Egyptian Film Association Festival in 2017, the Dubai International Film Festival (DIFF), Tetouan International Mediterranean Film Festival, Malmö Arab Film Festival and Oran Arab Film Festival in 2016. Before that, she received the Best Actress Award for her role in the film Banat West El Balad at the Egyptian Catholic Center Cinema Festival in 2006, and the Best Actress Award for her role in the film An El Eshq Wel Hawa at the Egyptian National Film Festival in 2006. Shalaby was named 'Best Actress' by the audience in numerous polls conducted by Arab and Egyptian newspapers and radio stations.

The Egyptian National Film Festival is one of the most important festivals for local cinema. Organized by the Egyptian Ministry of Culture through its Cultural Development Fund, the Egyptian National Film Festival is an annual event with two competitions: feature films competition and documentary, short and animation films competition. The festival aims to support the promotion and development of the Egyptian cinema, as part of the general cultural and social development process, through supporting unique productions, encouraging creativity in the film industry and creating interest in Egyptian cinema locally and internationally.