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.
An Emirati writer and media professional who graduated in Media Studies (specialising in radio and television) from Egypt in 1979. He has held several administrative positions, including General Manager of United Arab Emirates Television in Abu Dhabi, Director of the Media Training Centre at Al Bayan Press, Printing, and Publishing, Director of Training at Dubai Media Incorporated, and Director of the News Centre at Dubai Media Incorporated.
Al Hameli is active in numerous cultural and community councils and currently serves as Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Cultural and Scientific Association (NADWA) in Dubai, as well as Chair of its Media Committee.
Prior to that, Al Hameli served as a board member of the Journalists Association and the Dubai Cultural Council and participated in advisory boards at various Emirati universities’ media and social sciences faculties. He received several prestigious media awards, including the Taryam Omran Journalism Award, the Sharjah Government Communication Award (for his programme Qadiyat Watan), and the Federal Personality Award from the Emirates Centre for Strategic Studies and Research (ECSSR).
In 2024, he received the Dubai Media Pioneers Medal, and in 2025 he received the ‘Pioneer of Emirati Column Writing’ award in the inaugural Emirati Column Award. Al Hameli is a regular columnist for Al Bayan, 999 Magazine, and Canada’s Al-Risalah newspaper. His published works include "Memory of Joy", "Whispers of Memory", "Wherever You Turn, There’s Zayed", "The Narrator Said", and "The Passion Lives On: A Life Between Media and Culture".
A prominent media professional and novelist in the Arab cultural sphere, Dr Shakir Noori’s career spans over three decades across Paris, London, and the UAE, where he was active in journalism, editing, translation, and content creation.
He earned his PhD in media from the Sorbonne University in 1983, specialising in media, communication, and comparative literature. He also holds a bachelor’s degree in English literature from the University of Baghdad.
Dr Noori has worked with major newspapers and magazines including "Alquds Alarabi", "Asharq Al-Awsat", "Al Bayan", and "Emarat Al Youm", and held editorial and managerial roles in multiple media institutions. He has also taught media at Al Jazeera University.
Residing in the UAE since 2004, D. Noori holds the UAE Golden Visa and has received numerous accolades, including the Ibn Battuta Prize for Travel Literature, Katara Prize for Arabic Novel, and the Arab Journalism Award in the Best Press Interview category, in addition to being honoured by Al Owais Creativity Award.
He has published 11 novels and 20 books on narrative, translation, and media topics.
Currently serving as Director of the Arabic Language and Literature Department at the Ministry of Culture, Dr Hamda Al Hammadi is a key figure in the UAE’s cultural scene.
She is a member of the UAE Writers Union and sits on the national Arabic Language Advisory Council. Her previous leadership roles at the Ministry included Director of Literature and National Identity (2021-2024), Arabic Language Project Lead (2018-2020), and Head of the Talented and Creators section (2013-2017).
In academia, Dr Al Hammadi served as Assistant Professor in the Department of Arabic Language at Al Wasl University in Dubai, where she had earned her own bachelor’s, master’s, and PhD in Arabic Language and Literature.
A leading literary and academic figure in the Gulf region, Dr Abdullah Maneh Ghleis holds a PhD in Arabic Language and Literature from Dar Al Uloom College in Egypt (2016). He was a board member of the Kuwait Writers Association (2019-2021) and served as Editor-in-Chief of Al Bayan magazine.
Dr Ghleis has served on the judging panels of major literary awards across the region, including the final jury of the Katara Prize for Prophet’s Poet in the Classical Poetry category. In 2023, he won the Kanz Al Jeel Award in its second edition for his book "Al-Marjaa al-Wafi fi al-Awzan wal-Qawafi lil-Shi’r al-Fasih wal-Nabati" (The Comprehensive Reference of Rhymes for Classical and Nabati Poetry).
His major works include "Toward the Text: A Study of Ibn Zaydun’s Poetry"; "Science of Metre and Rhyme"; and "Prosodic Structures of Arabic Poetic Openings", and "Al Bayan Investigations", a book that compiles manuscripts published during his editorial tenure at the magazine. Furthermore, Dr Ghleis has authored numerous peer-reviewed articles in journals in Kuwait and Egypt, focusing on rhythm and aesthetics in Arabic poetry, in addition to publishing linguistic and literary essays in newspapers across the Gulf.
An Emirati poet with over 26 years of experience in managing and coordinating heritage-related projects, Obaid bin Qadlan Al Mazrouei holds an MBA from the Abu Dhabi School of Management, and a bachelor’s degree and diploma in human resources management from the Emirates College of Technology.
Al Mazrouei has played a notable role in preserving poetic heritage, having compiled and edited "Diwan Al-Raqraqi" and "Diwan of Poet Mubarak bin Qadlan Al Mazrouei". He won the Kanz Al Jeel Award in its first and second editions in the Poetry Matching category.
His widely known sung poems include "Zan Liwa", "I Belong to You", "My Homeland", "Dar Al-Ryoum", "Mother of the Martyr", "We Promise You, Our Country", and "Most Precious Nation".
Al Mazrouei has participated in numerous poetry evenings and cultural events, including at Qasr Al Hosn, Qasr Al Muwaiji, Liwa Date Festival, and Al Dhafra Festival, reinforcing his poetic and national presence across cultural platforms.
