UAE | Heritage and Culture
More than 7,000 vie for title of Prince of Poets
More than 7,000 entries from 22 countries were received by organisers of the the Abu Dhabi Prince of Poets contest.
- WAM
- Published: 21:37 May 2, 2008
Abu Dhabi: More than 7,000 entries from 22 countries were received by organisers of the the Abu Dhabi Prince of Poets contest.
The Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage announced on Friday that entries for the second edition of the poets' competition closed on April 13.
Hundreds of entries were received even before the announcement of the new competition date, reflecting the great success of the program in its first round which was held last year.
The panel of judges will select 300 entries from poets chosen by a committee in Abu Dhabi, and invite them for an interview next week.
The Prince of Poets contest is one of the most successful television programmes in the Arab world. This TV poetry competition is broadcast in classical Arabic. The programme aims to revive Arab heritage and culture and to discover new talented poets.
About 5,400 poets from 23 Arab and other countries applied to take part in the first competition held last year. Only 300 of them were selected based on their poem's form and style.
The panel of judges picked 35 poets, who finally took part in the contest.
Kareem Ma'atouq from the UAE won the Dh1 million prize last year.
The second prize went to Mohammad Ould Al Talib from Mauritania, who received Dh500,000, and the third place was won by Jasem Al Saheeh from Saudi Arabia who received Dh300,000.
The fourth place was won by Rawdah Al Haj from Sudan, and she received a prize worth Dh200,000. The fifth place was won by Tamim Al Barghouthi from Palestine who received the prize of Dh100,000.
The contest organisers also published the winners' poems and issued audio tapes with their poetry.
The first contest lasted for three months.
The poets recited their versus at the Al Raha Beach Theatre in Abu Dhabi.
The contest was also broadcast by the Abu Dhabi Satellite Television and Emirates FM Radio.
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