The Sultan Bin Ali Al Owais Cultural Foundation, in collaboration with the American University in Dubai (AUD), has hosted a virtual evening of short stories under the title of “Words from Tomorrow”, on Sunday, March 14, 2021. The event featured jury members of the “Short Story Competition” launched by the American University in Dubai, including Mr. Ali Obaid Al Hamli, News Center Department Director at Dubai Media and Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Cultural and Scientific Association, Dr. Moussa Barhoma, Professor of Media at the Mohammed Bin Rashid School for Communication and Mr. Nader Makansi media consultant for the American University in Dubai.

Winners of the “Short Story Competition”- organized by the American University in Dubai- read out their short stories to a wide audience of faculty members from the AUD and participating schools via the online platform of the Sultan Bin Ali Al Owais Cultural Foundation. Abdullah Dawood Ali Ahmed, student at Al Ahlia Charity School (Dubai), read out his short story “Khusoof Al Shams” (Solar Eclipse) to the audience, while Maithaa Al Marri, student at Al Ittihad Private School Jumeirah, read her story “Ma Sanarah fi 59 Aaman” (What We Will See in 50 Years) and Ali Mohamed Darwish Ali, student at Dubai National School Al Twar, read his story “Al Jumaa Allati la Tunsa” (An Unforgettable Friday).

Moreover, members of the jury commented on the winning stories and stressed the importance of tackling science fiction themes in literature, especially “Life in the UAE in 50 years”, and highlighted how crucial the Arabic language is for the new generation.

It is worth mentioning that the American University in Dubai had recently announced the winners of the short story competition for high school students in public and private schools. The pieces submitted to the competition were to be written either in Arabic or English on the theme of “Life in the UAE in 50 years”. Abdullah Dawood Ali Ahmed, a student at Al Ahlia Charity School (Dubai), won a scholarship for coming in first place. Meanwhile the other participating students including Maithaa Al Marri (Al Ittihad Private School Jumeirah), Ali Mohamed Darwish Ali (Dubai National School Al Twar), Reem Mahmoud Saad Salim (Al Ahlia Charity School, Qadisiya- Sharjah), Mariam Ali (Dubai National School) and Souriya Ghiathri (Gems English School) received valuable incentive prizes from AUD.