ABU DHABI, The Abu Dhabi Arabic Language Centre (ALC) has closed nominations for the first edition of the “Kanz Al Jeel” award, organised by the ALC to honour Nabati poetic works, as well as folk studies and research into the subject and is awarded to scholars and creators whose works explore the rich heritage and authentic values of Nabati poetry.
The award’s committee received 234 submissions across all six categories, where the Studies and Research category accounted for the highest percentage of total submissions with 37 percent, followed by Poetry Publications with 23 percent, Poetic Matching with 19 percent, Arts with ten percent, Translation with four percent, and finally the Creative Personality category with six percent.
Entries came from 20 countries, namely, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman, Palestine, Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt, Algeria, Sudan, Yemen, Iraq, Morocco, Syria, India, Bangladesh, the United States, Canada, the Netherlands and the UAE. The next stage will be the evaluation process, which sets the stage for announcing the longlists.
ALC Chairman Dr Ali bin Tamim asserted, “Kanz Al Jeel award succeeded, in its very first edition, in shedding light on creative minds of Nabati poetry everywhere, exploring their contributions to this authentic artform, which embodies the culture and aspirations of the people. This, in turn, supports our strategic objectives at the ALC to embrace talents in this very notable field of literary arts – poetry. The award holds an exceptional value, given its association with the name and works of the UAE’s Founding Father, the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan. ALC values all the works submitted for the award, the number of applications shows that future generations will make great contributions towards enriching the local and Arab literary worlds with a series of works that will immortalise the art of Nabati poetry.”
For his part, Eissa Saif Al Mazrouei, Chairman of the award’s Higher Committee, said, “The first edition of the Kanz Al Jeel award underlines the great place that the art of poetry occupies around the world, and particularly Nabati poetry, which embodies the customs and traditions of its communities and preserves their legacies. The award’s higher committee received a vast number of applications from around the world. This reflects the enormous pool of talented and creative people in the field of Nabati poetry and research that exists across all societies. We are confident that the next editions of the award will see a clear increase in the number of participations and countries taking part in the award.”
The Kanz Al Jeel award includes a monetary prize of AED200,000 per category, with the exception of Creative Personality, which has a prize value of AED500,000. The award is inspired by the poems of the UAE’s Founding Father the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, and aims to promote poetry as a mirror of society and underline the prominent position it occupies in the Emirati and Arab conscience.
The award honours distinguished poetic works by publishing them and introducing their authors. It also aims to highlight the aesthetic and human values in the poems of the late Sheikh Zayed, in addition to preserving the heritage of Nabati poetry and strengthening future generations’ connection to their identity through poetry, culture, and heritage.
Source: Emirates News Agency