Winners of Young Artist Award 2010 honoured

The awarding ceremony was attended by VIP guests comprising representatives from the Judges Panel, Board Members from the Dubai Women Establishment, distinguished members of the local and international art community and members of the media.

The initiative was first launched in 2006 as an annual visual art competition aimed at encouraging and promoting emerging artists from the UAE. The award is popular amongst university students majoring in art, design and multimedia. During her opening speech, Muna bin Kalli, Executive Director of the Dubai Ladies Club commented on the growth of the Award. “Since its inception four years ago, the Shaikha Manal Young Artist Award has greatly contributed to advancing the art scene in the UAE, and leading young artistic talent towards greater excellence and innovation,” she said.

Eight awards including the People’s Choice Award, were presented by Shaikh Majid bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, in three categories — ‘Fine Art Award’; ‘Photography Award’ and ‘Multimedia Award’. Each category winner, runner up and second runner up received cash prizes worth Dh30,000, Dh20,000 and Dh10,000 respectively.

The winners were selected by a distinguished judge’s panel including Jack Persekian, Director of Sharjah Art Foundation; Antonia Carver, Fair Director of Art Dubai; William Lawrie, Expert in Modern and Contemporary Middle Eastern Art; Sultan Sooud Al Qassemi, Founder of Barjeel Art Foundation and Jassim Al Awadhi, Emirati photographer, Co-founder of Emirates Photography Society.