Her Excellency Sheikha Lubna Bint Khalid Al Qasimi, Minister of State for Tolerance and President of Zayed University, honored 11 creative winners in the first of its kind New Fairytales and Fables from the UAE Writing Competition (NF&F) at Zayed University in Abu Dhabi campus.

The awarding ceremony saw the presence of Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Bin Khalifa Al Nahyan, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Sheikh Sultan Bin Khalifa Al Nahyan Humanitarian and Scientific Foundation.

Launched earlier this year on February 19, the New Fairytales and Fables from the UAE Writing Competition (NF&F), is held in partnership with Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Center for Cultural Understanding (SMCCU) and Sheikha AlYazia Bint Sultan Al Nahyan’s ZOWD Cultural Establishment.

The contest came as part of Zayed University’s Kharareef Heritage Storytelling Club activities to highlight the growing interests in storytelling, to demonstrate that UAE young students know and value the meaning of their surrounding culture and take pride in their national identity.

His Excellency Saeed Mohammed Al Muqbali, Adviser at the Ministry of Presidential Affairs, His Excellency Marwan Al Sawaleh, Undersecretary at the Ministry of Education, Professor Reyadh AlMehaideb, Vice President of Zayed University, Dr. Marilyn Roberts, Acting Provost at Zayed University, a number of faculty members, academic administrators, and several public figures also attended the glittering ceremony.

At the outset of the ceremony, Professor AlMehaideb said: “ Encouraging younger and future generations to explore their potentials and passions in creative writing and storytelling is a crucial factor to implant the love of reading in their hearts. Reading motivates writing and stimulates enthusiastic youth to discover the world.”  

“Therefore, the New Fairytales and Fables from the UAE Writing Competition came to instill the habit of reading in the people in line with the declaration of President His Highness Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan to make 2016 the Year of Reading and in line with the directives of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai to produce a reading generation and establish the UAE as the capital of content, culture and knowledge through an integrated national literacy strategy and framework,” AlMehaideb added.

Additionally, AlMehaideb has also expressed his sincere gratitude to the partners including: the Ministry of Presidential Affairs for providing the financial support during the competition, Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Center for Cultural Understanding (SMCCU) and Sheikha AlYazia Bint Sultan Al Nahyan’s ZOWD Cultural Establishment.

The official competition, which received thousands of submissions from around 88 different schools across the UAE, was limited to grades 7-12 with internal competitions required for all the participating schools.

Teachers have divided students into groups beginning with different story chains and let teams develop collective ideas. They can also host traditional oral storytelling contests after the students create their stories. All grades and school age students participated in some creative way as they learned about the magical ancients archetypes from the UAE’s folklore of days gone by.

Students had to compose their own fairytales and fables in 500 words or less, in Arabic or English.

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