Kanz Al Jeel Award was launched by the Abu Dhabi Arabic Language Centre (ALC) to honour Nabati poetry pieces, folklore studies, and research by scholars and creators whose works represent the heritage of Nabati poetry and its inherent values.
The Award draws its name from one of the late Sheikh Zayed’s renowned works underlining his great legacy in the world of poetry and creativity. The Award also aims to promote creativity and critical thinking in order to create a poetic, critical, and artistic movement that will make Sheikh Zayed’s creative experience a focal point for new forms of creativity.
The late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, the UAE’s Founding Father, was a great leader who united a nation, shaped the UAE identity, and built a society that believes in tolerance and has accomplished major transformations. Sheikh Zayed laid the foundations for a unique ecosystem for poetry that reflects the depth of his relationship with Arabic and Nabati poetic heritage on one hand, and his ability to shape his unique aesthetic perspective on another.
The Award embraces Sheikh Zayed’s poetic journey and serves as a catalyst for novel artworks that celebrates its aesthetic value and ingenuity, once again highlighting the greater values of truthfulness, goodness, and beauty.
The total prize pool amounts to AED 1.5 million, with each category being AED 200 thousand and AED 500 thousand for the Creative Personality category.
The Kanz Al Jeel Award features six different categories, including:
The Poetry Matching Award is granted to the poem that most closely matches one of Sheikh Zayed’s poems in meter, rhyme, and subject. The poem should have an equal number of lines and imitate the language, figures of speech, and rhythm of the original poem.
The Poetic Publications Award recognises Nabati poetry books that are authentic in both form and content and constitute a notable addition to this poetic field.
The Arts Award celebrates works of art that use visual tools to read, perform, and embody Sheikh Zayed’s poetry and Nabati poetry in general. These include Arabic calligraphy, plastic art, short films, or singing, which engages vocal talents and musical instruments in particular, and Arabic poetry at large.
The Studies and Research Award is granted to research studies published on Nabati poetry that address this poetry’s methods, content, and lexicon in a scientific manner.
The Translation Award is granted to works and studies translated from Arabic, and to collection of poems translated from Arabic to other languages, whether printed or handwritten.
(Copyrights of handwritten works go to the Award).
The Creative Personality Award celebrates the winning work that made outstanding and effective creative contributions to Nabati poetry and affiliated studies, as well as to music, singing, drawing, and Arabic calligraphy.
HE Abdulla Majed Al Ali is the Director General of National Archives and National Library since November 2021. Over the past 30 years, he occupied several key functional positions in the fields of media, culture and heritage, including working as Executive Director at the National Archive since January 2021, Executive Director of Dar al Kutub and Libraries Management divisions at the Department of Culture and Tourism - Abu Dhabi, as well as Acting Executive Director of the Abu Dhabi Arabic Language Centre.
HE Al Ali led several of DCT - Abu Dhabi’s divisions and units over the years, achieving great success in promoting the cultural identity of Abu Dhabi and positioning the capital emirate on the global stage as an important hub of cultural exchange and knowledge. The roles he occupied include Director of Sheikh Zayed Book Award, the flagship DCT event, between 2006 and 2012.
Between 2001 and 2005, HE Al Ali worked as Deputy Head of Financial and Administrative Affairs, before joining the Human Resources division as Head of Employee Affairs, both positions at DCT. Before joining the Department, he worked as a Public Relations Editor at gas liquefication giant "Adgas" for two years. He started his professional career at the Armed Forces of the United Arab Emirates, between 1994 and 1999.
HE Al Ali has been instrumental to the success of some of DCT’s most notable events and programmes, such as Sheikh Zayed Book Award, "Kalima" translation project, "Isdarat" publishing initiative, and the Abu Dhabi International Book Fair. Moreover, he led the foundation of the Qasr al Watan Library at the Presidential Palace in Abu Dhabi and has played an influential role as a member of several committees and departments within DCT, including the Board of the National Archive, Board of Trustees of Sheikh Zayed Book Award, and Board of the International Prize for Arabic Fiction.
Furthermore, HE Al Ali has participated in many self-development and coaching programmes, including the Board Excellence & Governance course by the GCC Institute for Board Members, in 2018. He is a graduate of the Harvard School of Business Senior Management training course in April of the same year. He is also a Certified Appraiser for the European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM) since 2010.
HE Al Ali holds several academic qualifications, including a bachelor’s degree in communications and public relations from the United Arab Emirates University in 1998. By 2005, he has also attained a master’s degree in humanities from Ain Shams University in Egypt, with a thesis titled "Lifestyle Transformation & the Correlation with Behavioural and Cultural Influences in the UAE".
An Emirati academic, critic, and poet. She holds a PhD in literature and modern criticism and serves as an associate dean at the Higher Colleges of Technology, a trustee of the International Schools of the Future, a member of the UAE Writers Union, the International Federation of the Arabic Language, and the International Council for the Arabic Language.
She has contributed numerous research and working papers to refereed journals and international conferences.
Dr Ghleis holds a PhD in Arabic Language and is a member of the Kuwaiti Writers Association. He served as member of several juries for Arab poetry awards and festivals, in addition to lecturing at colleges and teaching a range of specialised courses.
He has authored several books and presented a comprehensive collection of research studies on poetry and prosody. He is also the winner of the Studies and Research Category of Kanz Al Jeel Award (2023).
Holding an MBA from the Abu Dhabi School of Management, Obaid bin Qadlan Al Mazroui is an Emirati poet who has had numerous achievements, most notably, developing two collections of poems by Al Raqraqi and another collection by poet Mubarak bin Qadlan Al Mazroui. He also received the Kanz Al Jeel Award in both its first and second sessions in the Poetry Matching category.
Furthermore, he wrote a series of sung poems, including "Zan Liwa" for singer Hamad Al Amiri, "I Belong to You, My Homeland" and "Dar Al Ryoum" for Aida Al Minhali, "Mother of the Martyr" for Faisal Al Jassem, "We Promise You, Our Country" for Muhammad Al Minhali, and "Dearest Homeland" that was performed by a musical group.
Al Mazroui has participated in many poetry evenings and morning recitals, such as the poetry evening at Qasr Al Hosn Festival, Qasr Al Muwaiji, Liwa Dates Festival, and Al Dhafra Festival camel beauty contest.
Egyptian composer, artist, and researcher. He composed music for several Arab stars, including Ali El Haggar, Hanan Madi, Medhat Saleh, and Reham Abd Elhakim.
He has held numerous fine art exhibitions in the field of plastic art, as well as participated in the Cairo International Forum for Arabic Calligraphy Arts in its first, third, and fourth sessions. For five years, he worked on a project sponsored by the Egyptian Ministry of Culture to transfer Arabic calligraphy from its traditional formations and raw materials to plastic arts.
He is a member of the Egyptian Writers Union and has published three collections, as well as numerous literary and research works. He received numerous awards in music, plastic art, and literature. He also served on the technical committee of the Cairo International Book Fair for four consecutive sessions.
