Jamil Khan, Senior Reporter

To develop young students as writers and hone their skills, the Hamdan Bin Mohammed Heritage Centre (HHC) has recently launched a “short story writing competition” for students.

It was the 3rd edition of the story writing competition and the winners in different categories were honoured at a ceremony held on the sidelines of the ongoing 38th Sharjah International Book Fair (SIBF) at Sharjah Expo Centre.

The announcement was made during a special ceremony led by Abdullah Hamdan Bin Dalmook, CEO of HHC, in the presence of other officials, at the Centre’s pavilion.

In the first category (12-14 years old) Abdul Rahman Mohammed Hamza won for his story entitled “The Beautiful Past” while Saif Mohammed Al Shamsi was awarded for his work entitled “Saif Wild Al Noukhatha.”

In the second category (15-17 years old), Mohammed Hamid Al Hashemi from Al Ittihad Private School won for his piece entitled “Challenge” while second place went to Fatima Mokhtar from Maria Al Qibtiyya School for her story entitled “Tales by My Grandfather.” The third place went to Mahmoud Sadiq Al Rais of Dubai International School for the story titled “Twinkle in Night.”

Dr Badia Al Hashimi was honoured for her efforts in training students this year through the training workshops organised by the Centre.

Abdullah Hamdan Bin Dalmook congratulated the winning students and their respective schools and said, “The short story competition is one of the most important activities of HHC’s Research and Studies Department. This competition, which has been receiving strong participation from all leading schools and students since its launch, has shown great success in the past three years.

“Through this competition, we look forward to contributing to the role of the Centre in line with the vision of our government to develop young talents in reading and writing and to train a well-informed and capable generation.”

He further said, “The stories presented in this competition reveal a high level of cultural understanding and deep expression of heritage from the young participants. The competition has many advantages, the most important of which is that it is an open competition for all Arab nationalities.”

The promotion of Arabic has always been given utmost attention and importance throughout the writing competition.

HHC launched the third edition of the short story competition back in March, in cooperation with Dubai’s Educational Zone. The competition, which started in 2016 that was declared as Year of Reading, has two age groups: 12-14 years old and 15-17 years old. The winning stories will be published by HHC in a book.  

It is also mentioned that the competition aimed at encouraging students to learn and highlight the importance of the Arabic language in addition to creating talented students in the field of storytelling. Participants are encouraged to promote the values of knowledge, tolerance and creativity.

However, the HHC has launched a new book “Al San’ah” written by Dalmook on the sidelines of the ongoing Sharjah Book Fair.

On the launch day, a large number of visitors queued to get their copy signed by Abdullah Hamdan Bin Dalmook. The book launch and signing ceremony was also attended by  representatives of local and regional media and a group of officials and directors of departments at the Centre.

Dalmook referred to the tremendous national responsibility of everyone in the society in terms of preserving the local culture, community values, vocabulary and cultural heritage of the UAE.

“Communities in every country around the world have values, ethics and concepts that distinguish them from the rest of the peoples and we respect that, but as Emiratis have certain ways of dealing. Due to the increasing demand for this book comprising our true values and characterising our society, it was decided to collect and prepare the book and issued to be a reference for young people and all segments of our society in the UAE.”

“We are witnessing an era in which the new generation is coming up with smart devices loaded with applications, and most of their focus is in that small screen of the mobile or tablet.”