The 12th edition of Sharjah Children’s Reading Festival (SCRF), organised by the Sharjah Book Authority (SBA) from May 19 – 29, under the theme ‘For Your Imagination’ at Sharjah Expo Center, will enrich visitors with a series of cultural and literary competitions and awards in line with the festival’s vision to expand the knowledge of the young generations, and fuel the advancement of the publishing sector.

Sharjah Children’s Book Award

SCRF will present the Sharjah Children’s Book Award to encourage authors of children’s literature to produce valuable content that develops a child’s literary and cultural abilities, improves their literary awareness, and enriches Arabic libraries with a diverse selection of children’s literature.

The award targets three categories: Arabic Children’s books (4 to 12 years old), Arabic Young Adult books (13 to 17 years old), and International Children’s books (7 to 13 years old). The winners in each category will receive AED 20,000.

SCRF Visually Impaired Book Award

This award is aimed at highlighting the importance of providing content for the visually impaired and partially sighted children to integrate them with their peers and communities. Books that facilitate tactile reading, and which uses different and clear colours to stimulate the sight of partially sighted children will be chosen for the award.

The value amount of the SCRF Visually Impaired Book Award is AED 20,000.

Poetry Knight competition

Children and adolescents will have the opportunity to participate in the ‘Poetry Knight’ literary competition organised by SCRF in collaboration with the Supreme Council for Family Affairs (SCFA), which aims to encourage the young generations to engage in Arabic poetry, memorise, and hone their recitation and public performance skills. The first-place winner will receive AED 3,000, while the second and third place winners will receive AED 2,000 and AED 1,000, respectively.

Future Artist competition

At SCRF 2021, an illustration competition titled, ‘Future Artist’, will be held in collaboration with Medaf Creative Studio, to enable participants express their talents and discover their creative skills in an interactive atmosphere, and under the supervision of a specialised artists.

Each participant will receive an acrylic painting kit containing a set of brushes, paint, canvas, pencil, eraser, and tape. Winners will be chosen based on their interpretation of the various theme options, and adjudged for their creativity and uniqueness, quality of artistic composition and design, and the appropriate use of colour and tone.

To know more about SCRF’s cultural competitions and awards, please visit: https://bit.ly/3tI94eZ