Dubai, 8 February 2022: The UAE’s young poetry performers were celebrated today at the Emirates Airline Festival of Literature at a special ceremony to honour the winners of the Poetry for All Competition, sponsored by Emirates NBD. The annual competition for pupils aged 8-18 gives young people the chance to show off their oratory and performance skills with individual interpretations of favourite poems, which this year were performed virtually.
Winners were chosen by a panel of Festival poets and judges including festival poets Afra Atiq, Danabelle Gutierrez and Rochelle Potkar.
The Poetry for All competition attracted more than 680 entrants in English and Arabic, competing across the two age group categories of the competition, 8-13 and 14-18.
This is the sixth year that Emirates NBD has sponsored the competition. “As always the standard of performances has been superb,” said Moadh Bukhash, Chief Marketing Officer at Emirates NBD. “As a company we are delighted to pay homage to the time-honoured Emirati tradition of poetry recital through this competition, and enjoy new interpretations in a contemporary setting. It is wonderful to see young people taking such pleasure in expressing themselves in this way.”
Winners:
PFA winners – Arabic:
8-13 age group
1. Lama Shaaban from Future International School, Abu Dhabi.
1. Abdelrahman Shaaban from Greenfield International School, Dubai.
2. Hala Ali Al Feil from Al Ittihad Private School Al Mimzar, Dubai.
3. Rital Mousa from American Gulf School, Sharjah.
14-18 age group
1. Lara Zaid Qasem from Al Mawakeb Private School Al Barsha, Dubai.
2. Omar Mohamed Shawqi from National Charity School, Dubai.
2- Farah Ahmed from Al Mawakeb Private School Al Barsha, Dubai.
3. Tadres Akram Naji from Al Dhafra Private School, Abu Dhabi.
PFA winners – English:
8-13 age group
1. Wid Alawar from Gems Al Barsha National School, Dubai
2. Davaughn Raheim Williams from Deira Private School, Dubai
3. Rawdha Al Maktoum from Dwight School, Dubai
14-18 age group
1. Kiroles Habib Yaqoub from Gems Al Khaleej International School, Dubai
2. Jonas Schmitt from German International School, Dubai
3. Suhaila Alshaali from Al Ittihad Private School, Dubai
The Festival programme is brimming with sessions to engage, entertain and inform, with topics encompassing fiction, history, current affairs, food, health, travel, biography, business and more. There are opportunities to appreciate poetry, take part in creative writing workshops and generally indulge in intelligent and articulate discussion on a wide range of topics. Sessions appeal to all ages and nationalities, featuring outstanding authors, thinkers and opinion formers.
Other initiatives celebrated at the Festival includes the Voices of Future Generations, which launches its second anthology of winning stories; the School Librarian of the Year; OUP Story Writing Competition; RGS Guildford Dubai Children’s Letter Writing Competition; Chevron Reader’s Cup; ENBD Poetry For All; Emirates LitFest Writing Prize; and the announcement of the first 10 fellows for the First Chapter: ELF Seddiqi Writers’ Fellowship.
The Emirates Airline Festival of Literature Festival is held with Founding Partners Emirates Airline and the Dubai Culture & Arts Authority (Dubai Culture), the Emirate’s dedicated authority for heritage, arts, and culture. It is held under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates and Ruler of Dubai.
