The ‘Sheikh Sultan Award for Celebrating the Spirit of Youth’ pavilion at Al Ain Book Fair (AABF) has been attracting a large number of youth interested in participating in this one-of-it-kind award in the region. Through the distribution of brochures and informative videos, visitors to their pavilion at the fair are gaining all the knowledge they need about the recently-launched award’s criteria, objectives and categories.
Their participation at AABF 2019, organised by the Department of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi (DCT Abu Dhabi), September 24 – October 3, is part of the award’s outreach and promotion efforts to ensure that the maximum number of young people aged 13 – 18 across nationalities residing in the UAE can benefit from it.
Launched under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Dr. Sultan bin Muhammad Al Qasimi, Member of the Supreme Council and Ruler of Sharjah, the Sheikh Sultan Award for Celebrating the Spirit of Youth aims to build a generation of young leaders who are confident about their abilities and recognise the importance of continuous learning in all aspects of life. The award aims to promote UAE’s efforts to invest in young people so they can ably lead and contribute to the overall development and
wellbeing of their societies.
When the award was launched in February, His Highness Sheikh Dr. Sultan Al Qasimi affirmed that the key to a prosperous future of any society lies in unleashing the full potential of its youth. His Highness the Ruler of Sharjah also stressed on the importance of developing talent, not only in academics, but in cultural, artistic, humanitarian and other fields to ensure that young boys and girls can actively contribute to their homes and to community.
The award, His Highness said, was designed for the younger generation to achieve distinction in different fields and to offer them a platform where they can work to be outstanding individuals who become the pride of their parents, teachers and nation.
Three levels of recognition – gold, silver and bronze – in the categories of volunteering, adventure, skills and hobbies define the award. These categories have been selected to officially recognise young applicants for their involvement in these significant non-academic activities. The award is geared towards the development of essential life skills and promote overall personality development in younger generations, while also helping them get the most out of their experiences.
This first-of-its-kind award in the region, reflects the vision of HH the Ruler of Sharjah to build generations of young leaders who believe in themselves and consider it equally important to invest their efforts into holistic development by polishing their physical and mental capabilities and aim to excel and innovate in all walks of life. The award aligns with the UAE’s commitment to empower future generations to do justice to their roles in societal development.
The award categories
Those who choose to register for the ‘Adventure’ section need to go on a nature camping activity, where they must show their ability to deal with daily challenges. In the ‘Volunteering’ section, participants can choose the type of volunteering activity with the objective of creating social value.
In the ‘Skills’ section, participants will pick a skill they wish to develop from the approved list of skills on the award’s website, while in ‘Hobbies’, participants can select one from the approved list, and document their journey in developing the same in a 5-15 minute video.
In order to register for one or more of the award sections, participants must complete the set number of hours assigned respectively for each. When the required hours are completed, participants can register and upload documents and videos reflecting their achievements on the personal accounts they can create on the award’s website https://sheikhsultanaward.ae/ .
The award was launched last February and 42 participants were honoured during the inaugural edition across all award categories.
