Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid to award Dh11m of prizes to Arab Reading Challenge winners

Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai set to attend the awards ceremony

Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President and Ruler of Dubai, stands with the finalists of the Arab Reading Challenge during the closing award ceremony at the Dubai Opera. Christopher Pike / The NatiShow more

One school pupil is set to receive a Dh500,000 ($136,129) cash prize as the winner of the Arab Reading Challenge on Monday.

Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, will attend the awards ceremony, which will crown the winner of the fifth competition from among five finalists.

The Arab Reading champion will be selected based on the pupil's ability to articulate general knowledge, their critical thinking and communication skills, plus the diversity of books they selected.

The event will also feature the announcement of the Outstanding Supervisor and Best School awards, with winners claiming Dh300,000 and Dh1 million respectively.

Book-loving pupils are required to read and summarise 50 books to qualify for the challenge.

Children are evaluated at class and school level in countries, then by educational district, until eventually 10 pupils are chosen from each country around the world. The national winners are then chosen from that group, and the champion selected from those individuals.

A growing challenge

This year's competition attracted 21 million participants, the highest number in the challenge’s history, from 52 countries, including 14 Arab and 38 foreign countries with an Arab diaspora.

This is compared to 13.5 million participants from 49 countries in 2019.

It also drew 120,000 supervisors, who helped pupils to improve their reading and summarising skills, compared to 99,000 supervisors in the fourth edition, while 96,000 schools joined this year’s challenge compared to 67,000 last time.

The Best School will be selected based on the ability to create a nurturing and supportive environment to encourage students to read, and the efforts made to foster the reading habit among students.

The Outstanding Supervisor award will be given based on efforts made to support students and guide them to develop critical thinking and communication skills.

Organised by the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Initiatives, the Arab Reading Challenge aims to create a knowledge movement to bring together millions of Arab readers from across the world, and to nurture an enlightened generation capable of building better Arab societies.

Viewers will be able to watch the announcement on the MBC Channel at 8.30pm UAE time on September 20.

2019's Arab Reading Challenge winners - in pictures