Ghanem Ghobash Award announces the names of the winners

The Emirates Writers and Writers Union, in a ceremony held at its headquarters in Sharjah, announced the names of the winners of the Ghanem Ghobash Short Story Award in its fifteenth session, in the presence of a large number of writers and intellectuals as part of the Union’s celebrations of Emirati Writer’s Day. The ceremony was moderated by the Federation’s Secretary General, Sheikha Al-Mutairi.

The ceremony was opened by Dr. Sultan Al Amimi, President of the Federation, with a keynote speech in which he said: “The number of stories received in the Ghanem Ghobash competition this season proved that the art of the short story is still well present in the arena of Emirati literature, as the competition received fifty stories by storytellers from different generations.” Creativity in the Emirates.

Al Amimi stated, in a statement on Sunday evening, that “announcing the names of the winners and honoring them on Emirati Writer’s Day is a celebration of the word and creativity,” and added that the meeting of the Ruler of Sharjah with writers and writers, yesterday, Saturday, was a different honor for them, and a celebration that will always remain present in the memory, including Added from a fatherly hadith for everyone.

The same speaker continued: “Good literary creativity does not die, and just as the person whose name the award bears left a good impact in the world of writing and thought, every creator will leave behind an influential literary legacy.” We congratulate ourselves on this success in this season of the award, and we also congratulate the winners, and we thank the jury for their efforts in the competition.”

For her part, and according to the statement, the Secretary General of the Ghanem Ghobash Short Story Award, the writer Aisha Sultan, said: “We are all in the Emirates witnessing, during the previous days and in the coming days, God willing, a beautiful cultural momentum, which indicates the extent of the vitality and mobility of this society, and denies everything that is said about That people have turned away from literature or from writing and reading, especially young people; These cultural movements that we have all witnessed in this period, starting with the Abu Dhabi Book Fair, the Booker Prize, and our celebrations of Emirati Writer’s Day, as well as the celebration held by the Al Owais Foundation this evening, celebrating new publications by Emirati writers, in addition to that beautiful celebration that we witnessed yesterday from… His Highness the Ruler of Sharjah, the founders of the First Writers Union, and today we are witnessing the distribution of the Ghanem Ghobash Short Story Award, and this indicates that we are in good literary health and in good cultural health, and God willing, it will continue.”

Fatima Ibrahim Al Ameri also gave a speech on behalf of all the award winners, in which she said: “Congratulations to all of us on Emirati Writer’s Day, which coincides with the founding date of the Emirates Writers and Writers Union. This union, which is not devoid of the imprint of the late writer Ghanem Ghobash – may God have mercy on him – is the union whose efforts we see today. It brought together pens, believed in youth, trusted talent, bridged the distances between generations, and raised the banner of responsibility towards the Emirati writer, and the nation first and second.

According to the statement, Dr. Badia Al-Hashemi, a member of the award’s jury, then gave her speech, saying: “The award, whose first session was announced on December 25, 1989, is in memory of the late writer Ghanem Ghobash, and the sessions continued after that, so today we celebrate the participants who numbered 50 participants, distributed between 14 male and 36 female writers, with 28% male writers and 72% female writers. The committee submitted a number of recommendations to the award’s secretariat and the Board of Directors to make further improvements in the upcoming sessions.”

At the end of the ceremony, Dr. Sultan Al-Amimi and Aisha Sultan honored the contestants who won the award. Fatima Ibrahim Al-Amiri came in first place for her story “The Voice in My Head Says”; As for second place, Mona Khalifa Al-Hamoudi deserved it for her story “Farhana,” Noura Khoury came in third place for her story “The Sedition of Lemons,” and in fourth place was Zainab Al-Haddad for her story “And His Heart Was Filled.” Aisha Saeed Al Zaabi deserved fifth place for her story “The Dagger.”

The ceremony also honored the members of the award’s jury, namely: Badia Al Hashemi, Ibrahim Al Sayed Al Hashemi, Lulwah Al Mansouri and Saleha Obaid.