Under the patronage of Hamdan bin Zayed, Sard Al Thahab Award reveals 2025 winners

Under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Hamdan bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Ruler’s Representative in Al Dhafra Region, the Abu Dhabi Arabic Language Centre (ALC), part of the Department of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi (DCT Abu Dhabi), has announced the winners in the third edition of the Sard Al Thahab Award.

The award honours storytellers and narrators of literature and folktales locally and across the Arab world. It also aims to support short story narration and visual storytelling arts, spotlighting Emirati folk and narrative traditions, and showcasing innovative productions that highlight the values of Emirati and Arab heritage. 

Nine winners from the UAE, Morocco, Egypt, the Sultanate of Oman, and Kuwait were selected across the award’s categories. This year’s edition of the Sard Al Thahab Award recorded broad participation from around the world, with a total of 37 countries taking part, compared to just 22 countries in the first edition, which marks a 68 per cent increase in under three years since its launch in 2023. Entries were submitted from countries participating for the first time, namely Albania, Austria, Chad, Denmark, Italy, and Japan, reflecting notable international outreach and reinforcing the award’s prestigious global standing.

His Excellency Mohamed Khalifa Al Mubarak, Chairman of DCT Abu Dhabi, said: “Reflecting the visionary leadership of His Highness Sheikh Hamdan bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the Sard Al Thahab Award plays a key role in preserving and documenting Emirati and Arab narratives, with international participation now including 37 countries. This expansion cements Abu Dhabi’s status as a global capital of culture and a champion of the Arabic language, providing a platform where creative ingenuity converges with opportunity and recognition.

“The award forms part of a broad ecosystem of initiatives that strengthen the UAE’s role in activating fostering cultural exchange, expanding spaces for cultural dialogue, and ensuring the continued vibrancy of our intangible heritage through research and documentation of Emirati and Arab narratives. The winning works exhibit a level of excellence that blends rigorous academic research with literary narration. They enhance the presence of Emirati and Arab cultural identity on the international stage, and affirm Abu Dhabi’s leading role in safeguarding folk heritage as an integral part of shared human memory.”

His Excellency Dr Ali bin Tamim, Chairman of the ALC, said: “In its third edition, the Sard Al Thahab Award successfully attracted the best creative works across popular narrative, storytelling, and folktale arts, cementing its role in nurturing these heritage elements deeply ingrained in the hearts of generations. We are proud of the remarkable results the award has achieved, as it continues to grow with each cycle, drawing more countries and pioneers to participate across its categories.”

“This progress confirms the depth of this cultural legacy, which the Abu Dhabi Arabic Language Centre strives to strengthen and promote by encouraging creative works and literary research in these fields, in addition to supporting and honouring the creators behind them, in line with Abu Dhabi’s cultural vision to safeguard folk heritage as a vital tributary of Arab cultural patrimony.” 

His Excellency Dr Abdulla Majid Al Ali, Director General of the National Library and Archives, Chair of the Sard Al Thahab Award’s Higher Committee, said: “The award’s increasing presence and notable success recorded year after year embody Abu Dhabi’s steadfast cultural vision to preserve literary memory and enrich the Arab library. Sard Al Thahab has moved beyond mere celebration to become a comprehensive knowledge project, dedicated to preserving collective memory and connecting generations to their civilisational roots through narrative arts that, with their eloquence and historical depth, form a pillar of literary creativity, preserving peoples’ knowledge journeys and transformations.

“Entries this year presented inventive approaches inspired by heritage and folk traditions, bringing them back to the reader in forms that resonate with the present. This, in turn, aligns with the UAE’s vision to consolidate national identity and enhance the country’s status as a haven for creatives and a cultural beacon that engages other cultures with a grounded, shared human language.” 

The Sard Al Thahab Award 2025 named four winners in its Short Story for Unpublished Stories category, starting with Abdelbar Essoldi (Morocco), who won the award for his collection ‘Bleeding of the Spectres’, distinguished by its originality, deep belonging to the oriental environment, and human spirit. The author employed a satirical style and intense language with profound intellectual, aesthetic, and philosophical meanings, which brought a distinctive narrative voice to his work.

Similarly, Mohammad Mansour Mohammad (Egypt) won for his work ‘More Than Forty Lookalikes’, which stood out for its philosophical and surreal depth, balancing artistic experimentation with commitment to human and social reality through compelling narration and language that expresses realistic ideas from a symbolic perspective, transcending the local to the human level.

Winners also included Sherif Saleh (Egypt) and his ‘Dual Tales’ collection, in which he creates a symbolic universe rooted in Arab heritage and collective imagination, blending authenticity with experimentation, and innovatively using multiple linguistic registers, styles, and symbols drawn from Arab heritage and shared memory. Meanwhile, Dr Ghalya bint Eissa Al-Zubaidiyah (Sultanate of Oman) won for her collection ‘The Well of Absence (From the Tales of Water in Omani Myths)’, which weaves Omani folk and mythic heritage into a contemporary narrative that blends realism and symbolic imagination, expressing the local environment and its social and cultural transformations through skilful narration and poetic, philosophical language.

The category of Short Story for Published Stories saw remarkable competition between works that reflected the development of Arabic narrative tools, while highlighting recent publications that have enriched the Arabic library. The committee selected Yousef Theyab Khalifa from Kuwait, for his work ‘The Time of the Lord of Pearls’, published by That Al Salasil Publishing House (2024), which successfully evokes the Gulf environment and its transformations through a striking visual narration, employing local dialect to deepen characters’ narrative identity while boldly and realistically addressing social and human issues, balancing spatial memory with present questions in clear, direct prose. 

Miral Al Tahawy (Egypt) won the award in the Popular Narratives category, for her work ‘Barqa is Far From the Messenger (Love Poetry among Bedouin Women)’ published by El-Mahrousa Centre (2020). The book offers a notable addition to the Arab library, presenting a distinct perspective on Bedouin heritage and women’s poetry, skilfully blending the beauty of literary narration with rigorous academic research, and showcasing key facets of Bedouin heritage related to women’s creativity and their role in preserving and sharing poetic tradition.

Ali Al Kindi Al Marar (UAE) was selected as winner in the Narrators category. Recognised as one of the most prominent names in poetry, history, and local heritage, Al Marar combines literary sensibility with field research to document every aspect of Emirati narrative. He is also credited with strengthening community awareness about heritage through his books, writings, and media programmes. His literary and research efforts were transformed into a comprehensive project that has helped shape and preserve Emirati memory for future generations.

Two winners were selected for the Emirati Narration category of the award, including Jamal Bin Huwaireb (UAE), a leading literary figure, poet, and dynamic force within the UAE’s narrative movement. His most notable contribution to Emirati narration is preparing and presenting the television programme ‘Al Rawi’, a national treasure preserving Emirati, Gulf, and Arab narratives. The programme offers information about poetry and poets, social counsels, pioneer stories, tales of the homeland, journeys, precious manuscripts, and old documents.

Huda Ibrahim Al Khamis (UAE) was also selected. A prominent cultural figure in the UAE, who has played a pivotal role in strengthening the country’s modern cultural narrative ever since she founded the Abu Dhabi Music & Arts Foundation (ADMAF). Through diverse initiatives and programmes, she helped establish a robust cultural infrastructure that expresses the spirit of the modern UAE, reinforcing Abu Dhabi’s position as a global platform where cultures converge and Emirati identity is celebrated in its most compelling form, thereby strengthening the national musical narrative on the international stage.

A special ceremony to honour the winners of the award’s third edition will be held in January 2026 at Al Dhafra Fort, coinciding with Al Dhafra Book Festival. The Sard Al Thahab Award, which now forms part of Arab heritage, culture, and thought, strives to introduce the narrative tradition, supporting efforts to study it, and encouraging innovative approaches to express it in contemporary culture.