Abu Dhabi: The Abu Dhabi Arabic Language Centre (ALC), part of the Department of Culture and Tourism Abu Dhabi (DCT Abu Dhabi), has started accepting nominations for the inaugural Golden Narrative (Sard Al Thahab) Award. This award recognises outstanding works of Arabic prose created by both local and international creative individuals.
The main objective of the award is to bring attention to Emirati folk tales and narratives, showcase remarkable contributions in this field, and honour talented storytellers who have played a significant role in preserving the history, lifestyle, and popular heritage of the UAE throughout the years. The award draws inspiration from a poem written by the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, the Founding Father of the UAE, and aims to foster an artistic movement that continues Zayed’s legacy of creativity.
The launch of the Golden Narrative Award represents a new milestone in Abu Dhabi’s journey to honour creative thinkers across different fields, including storytelling, narration, and folk tales, which are deeply rooted in Emirati and Arab culture. Inspired by the creative journey of the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, and his efforts to nurture cultural consciousness and artistic expression in the UAE community, the Award aims to showcase these works of collective memory and strengthen our national identity.
Abdulla Majed Al Ali, Chairman of the Golden Narrative Award’s Higher Committee, shared.
The Award is accepting submissions across six categories. The Short Story Prize for Unpublished Stories honours and publishes unpublished works by talented authors, the Short Story Collection Prize for Published Stories recognises published stories that draw inspiration from the nation’s heritage, the Popular Narratives Prize honours collections of popular folktales that build collective memory and contribute to cultural identity, or notable studies that analyse these tales, while the Narrators Prize celebrates narrators of popular literature and biographies from the UAE and the wider Arab world, who recite these works orally.
The categories also include the Illustrated Story Prize, which honours narratives that rely on images in its structure, blending narration and graphic arts, and the Emirati Storytelling Prize, recognising literary works in Arabic and other languages that explore Emirati identity and are inspired by the UAE’s history, geography, and other values.
Individuals, literary unions, cultural institutions and universities can submit work to one of the six categories. Nominations for the Emirati Narratives category must come from academic, research, and cultural institutions and from the Higher Committee of the Award.