Dubai: More than 220 students in the UAE were honoured during the 17th cycle of the Hamdan Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Award for Distinguished Academic Performance. The students were given the Distinguished Student cup, certificate and a cash prize of Dh20,000 to encourage them to continue pursuing their education with diligence.

The students who won the award attend various public and private schools in the country, including The Indian High School, GEMS Millennium School, Our Own English High School, Dubai National School, the Fujairah Academy of Islamic Teachings, and Al Ain Juniors School. Eleven teachers from Al Ain, Sharjah, Ras Al Khaimah and Fujairah were also honored.

The award was established in 1998 after a decree by Shaikh Hamdan Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Deputy Ruler of Dubai and Minister of Finance, as a way of recognising excellence in educational performance and fostering talent.

An estimated 63 per cent of participants from Dubai, 41 per cent from Abu Dhabi, and 52 per cent from Sharjah won the Award in various categories. Out of 20 participating universities and colleges, 11 were honoured.

Participants hail from across the Arab world and include teachers, academically distinguished families, research groups, and social and guidance counsellors. There are 14 local categories, four in the GCC, and an Arab educational research award. A Unesco-Hamdan Bin Rashid Al Maktoum prize for outstanding practice and performance in enhancing the effectiveness of teachers is also granted every other year.

“We have a number of categories to honour and motivate academic excellence,” Dr Khalifa Ali Al Suwaidi, Board Member of the Award, said on Wednesday. “This includes the Distinguished Teacher Award, Distinguished Student, Distinguished Social Worker, Distinguished Supervisor , Best Scientific Innovation, Best Applied Project and Distinguished Parent.”

Al Suwaidi said that Unesco recently did an overhaul of the prizes that bear its distinguished label.

“They eliminated quite a few of those awards as they did not meet Unesco’s standards. However, the Hamdan Award still holds the brand.” A Unesco-Hamdan award was not doled out this year.

Al Suwaidi said two main steps were involved in picking the winners.

“A 56-person judging panel first looks through all the applicants of the award,” he said. “Then we conduct interviews and visit them at their schools and universities to determine the best candidates.”

Al Suwaidi noted that none of the candidates for Exceptional Teacher award were granted the honour.

“To be a candidate for the prize, one has to first win the Distinguished Teacher award in a previous year,” he said. “We then examine how that candidate has improved themselves and their teaching methods to qualify for the Exceptional Teacher Award. We found none had made the cut.”

For the same reasons, the Award committee also did not honour any of the Arab Educational Research Award participants.

Al Suwaidi said that the committee tried to give back constructive criticism to those who were not awarded.

“We offer constructive feedback in our rejection letters, saying why they were not picked and what they can work on in their next attempt. Such a prestigious prize comes with a responsibility, for the world will turn to them in hope of advancement in the educational field.”