Gulf Women’s Creativity Award winners named

Under the patronage of Her Highness Sheikha Jawaher Bint Mohammed Al Qasimi, Chairperson of the Supreme Council for Family Affairs, the Cultural Office of the Supreme Council for Family Affairs in Sharjah has announced the winners of the seventh edition of the Sharjah Award for Gulf Women’s Creativity for 2025.

In the Critical Studies category, Dr Sabah Bin Abdul Karim Isawi (Saudi Arabia) was awarded for her research, The Dialectic of Self and the Other in Arabic Travel Literature: A Critical Perspective. Prof. Nadia Hanawi Saadon (Iraq) won for Self and the Other in Imaginary Travel Narratives. The Jury Prize was granted to Soumaya Ali Raheef (Iraq) for her study Opposites Attract: The Self and the Other in Short Stories, analysing Giants and Dwarfs of the Sea by Fathiya Al-Nimr.

For Classical Poetry, Dr Dalal Bin Bandar Al Maliki (Saudi Arabia) won for her poetry collection Coma, while Afaf Bin Hussein Al-Harbi (Saudi Arabia) won for On the Thresholds of Absence.

In the Children’s Literature - Short Story category, Badriya Bin Mohammed Al-Badri (Oman) won for her story Me and My Friend, and Maryam Khalifa Al Shehhi (UAE) received the award for What Does It Mean to Belong? The Jury Prize was presented to Nada Ahmed Fardan (Bahrain) for her story The Amazing Shampoo of Feelings.

An announcement will soon be made for the Cultural Personality of the Year, recognising a prominent Gulf woman with significant literary contributions and cultural influence.

The Sharjah Award for Gulf Women’s Creativity was established to support and showcase the creative achievements of Gulf women in literature and critical studies. It serves to enrich contemporary Gulf literature and foster healthy competition among female writers.

Salha Ghabish, Head of the Cultural Office, noted a higher participation rate in this edition compared to previous years, with all entries meeting the award’s criteria.

She highlighted that this award is the first of its kind in the GCC, dedicated to celebrating women’s excellence in storytelling, poetry, theatre, and children’s literature.

To encourage diverse literary contributions, the award structure is periodically revised. This year’s edition featured three main categories: Critical Studies, Classical Poetry, and Children’s Literature - Short Story.

In the previous edition, Playwriting was introduced under storytelling to expand opportunities for participation.

WAM