Smart university honours 'Reading Knights'

The Hamdan Bin Mohammed Smart University (HBMSU) has honoured the winners of its Smart Book Club's latest 'Reading Knights' competition for their active role in promoting reading. The competition was originally launched in honour of the proclamation of 2016 as the 'Year of Reading' by the President, His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan.

The contest aimed to heighten awareness on the importance of reading and knowledge enrichment, develop the habit of self-learning, enhance analytical and critical thinking, and encourage knowledge sharing among readers of different cultural and cognitive backgrounds. Participants were invited to submit objective Arabic or English reviews of famous literary works.

The second round saw strong competition, with 566 candidates - aged between 18 and 65 years - of different nationalities vying for the 'Best Review' of 'Sharjah Air Station: Between East and West' and 'Sarad El Zat,' two books written by His Highness Dr Sheikh Sultan bin Mohammed Al Qasimi, Member of the Supreme Council and Ruler of Sharjah.

This year's champion under the 'Arabic' category was Ahmed Mubarak Salem (Bahrain) with 96.4 points, followed by Ruqaia Ashkanani (1st runner up, UAE) with 93.1 and Alia Mutref (2nd runner up, UAE) with 89.4. Shabbir Jabir (India) bested the 'English' category with an average of 62.5 points.

Dr Mansour Al Awar, chancellor of the HBMSU, honoured the new Reading Knights for their high level of work and stressed the importance of continuously developing knowledge through self and distance learning, which he referred to as pillars of comprehensive and sustainable development.

Al Awar said: "Reading is an effective tool for gaining knowledge that leads to the development of individual capabilities. It contributes to the stimulation of intellectual abilities, the expansion of cognitive awareness, and the upgrading of analytical skills. We are going forward with this initiative to support national efforts to make the UAE a global capital of content, culture and knowledge.

Source: Khaleej Times