Six successful young writers received prizes at the British Council Middle East Short Story Competition at a ceremony in celebration of 75 years of the Council’s work around the globe, at I Spy Bookshop in City Center recently.
The competition was launched at the Dubai TESOL Arabia Conference in March and closed in July. Other countries that participated included Bahrain, Oman, UAE, Yemen and Iraq. The competition was open to all GCC nationals in the age group of 11 to 18.
The winners were Mae Saleh, Hend Al Sulaiti and Aisha Al Badi in the senior category and Mahmoud Al Khatib, Husam Al Khatib and Ibrahim Yousef Ibrahim Sulaiti in the junior
section.
Caroline Cameron, British Council English projects manager in Qatar, said: “We decided to hold the competition for nationals of Middle East countries to support and celebrate the British Council’s long experience of working with partners in the region. It combined two of our key areas of work in cultural relations - English language skills and creativity. The quality of the entries was remarkably high in terms of originality and excellence in English. It is wonderful to see that four of the six winners were Qatari.”
The prizes were awarded by British storyteller and trainer Alec Williams, who was on a visit to Qatar on an invitation from the Council.
Alec’s visit is part of the British Council commitment to help further literacy in Qatar and the region.
Alec will also work with independent and semi-independent school teachers and librarians to help hone their storytelling skills and work on encouraging children to read for pleasure.
All winners will have their stories published on the British Council webpage devoted to 75 anniversary events. |
