2 young writers emerge winners of ‘I Love Sharjah’ competition
sharjah — Meet Abdelrahman Tamer and Ayana Thariq Sheikh: Two young writers who are about to embark on a brand new exciting chapter in their own lives, as they have just been crowned winners of the Yarboa Adventures Story competition.
Organised by the Sharjah Investment and Development Authority’s (Shurooq) leisure and promotion arm ‘I Love Sharjah’ and run in parallel with this year’s Sharjah International Book Fair, the competition challenged young writers to pen a story between 200 and 2,000 words that focused on Sharjah and included the popular ‘I Love Sharjah’ mascot, Yarboa. Abdelrahman’s story called Yarboa in Bait Al Nabooda details the UAE customs and traditions, educating the readers about the history of Bait Al Naboodah and its surrounding areas, while Ayana’s Yarboa’s Wonderland tells the tale of a ‘magical dream’ where her friend Yarboa takes her on a journey to discover the city’s wonderful secrets and reflect on all the beauty that Sharjah has to offer.
Adhering to strict criteria that called for all stories to be original and have a beginning, body and ending, eight-year-old Abdelrahman from Al Ansar International School, Sharjah, and seven-yearold Ayana from Habitat School, Ajman, impressed the judges with their creative and fun tales, and were able to shine among 169 entries to reach the top spots. Abdelrahman won in the Arabic category and Ayana won in the English category of the competition.
Abdelrahman and Ayana were crowned winners by a panel of judges from Kalimat Publishing. Their stories will be published in the Yarboa book series and feature on the ‘I love Sharjah’ website. They also each received Dh5,000 in prize money.
The Yarboa Adventures Story competition was open to children aged from seven to 13 years old, and aimed to inspire creativity and uniqueness among young writers, while offering a prestigious platform from which they could showcase their writing talent. A total of 169 entries were received by children living throughout the UAE, with five being shortlisted before the final two winners were chosen.