Abu Dhabi: After surviving several rounds, the first Kitab Read Aloud Champion was announced at the Abu Dhabi International Book Fair (Adibf) on Saturday.
Isra'a Ashraf, a Grade 5 pupil from the Safana Bint Hatem Al Taea School beat 250 participants, including those in the final round: Nouf Nasser from Al Mozdalefah School, Ali Rashid Ali from Al Bateen Model School, Fatima Ahmad Abu Haleeqa from Al Thebiania Model School and Faisal Ebrahim from Ibn Sina School.
Final round
The final round took place at the Discussion Forum of Adibf.
"I'm very happy that I won because I practised very hard for this competition. The part I chose to read was about Halima's cleverness at finding a solution to her problem, which I could relate to," said Isra'a, whose prize was a Dh1,000 voucher from Kitab.
"I love books about animals and fantasy books…I can't wait to use my voucher to buy new books."
Surrounded by family and friends, each contestant read an extract from two books, Halima And The Eggs and Halima Fools The Roosters, in front of a three-judge panel.
They were rated for delivery, reading technique, understanding and grasp of the tone and mood of the piece.
The judges were Dr Hassan Hamad, a representative of the Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage (Adach), Laila Al Othman, a Kuwaiti author, and Dr Ali Bin Tamim, Kalima Project Manager.
The second and third prizes went to Nouf Nasser and Ali Rashid Ali, respectively.
