Record submissions continue to pour in for this year's Arab Hope Makers Award

With closing date set for March 24, more than 800,000 people have already visited website

With only a little longer than two weeks to go before the closing deadline, more than 70,000 submissions have been registered for the Arab Hope Makers award.

The response, described by the organisers as “overwhelming”, means the contest has already exceeded the final number of submissions last year, with the closing date for 2018 set at March 24.

Since Arab Hope Makers was launched last month, its website has been visited more than 800,000 times – another record.

The project celebrates humanitarian initiatives taken by individuals and organisations from across the Arab world, with a top prize of Dh1 million.

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Mohammed Omran, Arab Hope Makers Project Manager at Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Initiatives, said engagement online was unprecedented, "with thousands of interactions with influencers, artists, cultural figures, social activists and more.

"People all across the Arab world are spreading the message of hope as a weapon to fight despair and negativity in the region," he said.

More than one in five applications have come from Saudi Arabia, with 22 per cent of all entries, followed by Egypt with 11 percent and the UAE with nearly 10 per cent.

Community service initiatives account for 36 per cent of the total submissions, followed by education on 12 per cent.

The MBRGI has organised teams of volunteers to begin initially screening of submissions, including verification and classification into categories.