The National Archives announces the launch of the 12th edition of the Young Historian Award
The National Archives announces the launch of the 12th edition of the Young Historian Award
The National Archives of the Ministry of Presidential Affairs announced the launch of the 12th edition of the Young Historian Award in the academic year 2021-2022 in line with its interest in strengthening joint national programs with educational institutions in the country.
This edition of the school student award derives greater importance from the fact that it coincides with the Year of the 50th, because planning for the next fifty years calls for the proper national upbringing of students and enrichment of their knowledge of the UAE’s history and heritage. As a result, their ability to strengthen the foundations of the Union and consolidate the UAE's reputation globally will be enhanced to preserve the gains of the country, and subsequently celebrate the Centennial of the UAE in 2071 as the best country in the world.
This scientific award, which deals with national topics, aims at promoting belonging to the nation and loyalty to wise leadership, and nurturing national identity in student generations. Furthermore, it seeks to develop their awareness of their glorious history, urges them to put forward authentic ideas and expressions, encourages them to research the history of the UAE and protect its documentary heritage in all forms, and promotes interest in the study of the history of humanity, tribes and genealogy, and dialogue of civilizations.
The National Archives directs this award to school students from grades 5 to 12. Thus, the 5th - 8th graders may participate through preparing a report on one aspect of social, economic or geographical life in the UAE.
The assigned topics for Cycle 2 are as follows: the National Identity, Al-Sinaa, Social Cohesion, Customs and Traditions, Personal Impression of Celebrating the National Day, Emirati Women, Commemoration Day, and Volunteering.
The topics assigned for Cycle 3 participation include stories and narrations about the founding fathers, tolerance, folklore, heritage topics specific to the United Arab Emirates, architecture in the UAE (museums, markets, Qasr Al-Hosn, castles and forts, Wahat Al-Karama, Zayed Memorial). There are other topics such as A Story of a Document which involves writing a story or collecting information about a certain document. The Emirati Explorer, which involves exploring unknown archaeological sites, documenting stories with new or unique information, writing about personalities about whom no information has been written before, or explaining orally transmitted knowledge in astronomy, travel, marine science, calculating Al Duroor, etc. Topics also include Historical and archaeological sites, the UAE’s civilizations, Martyrs of Duty, The role of Emirati women, notably the Mother of the Emirates (Sheikha Fatima Bint Mubarak), women's empowerment, influential Emirati personalities and the UAE’s Efforts to Curb Covid-19, History of arts and theater in the UAE, Cultural associations, Emirati costume, Celebrating the 50th anniversary of the establishment of the Union, Sports activities, Expo 2020, Smart education (distance education), stories and anecdotes about distance learning, and Landing on Mars.
The National Archives advises participants to take advantage of the holdings of the Emirates Library at its headquarters, the website of the Arabian Gulf Digital Archive (AGDA) and the documents which it provides through the Customer Happiness Hall at its headquarters, as well as using the school and public libraries.
The competition jury will start receiving entries in the first week of February 2022. The concerned committees have completed their preparations to meet with students in order to provide them with more comprehensive and detailed information about the award categories and objectives, assessment criteria, and reports, research and oral interviews acceptance conditions.
It is worth noting that the National Archives launched the Young Historian Award in 2009 under the slogan “School Trips Competition”, and it published some important entries such as Zayed and Education, Zayed and Women, Zayed and Development, Zayed and the Environment and the Three Emirati Islands. Recently, it has also published two important publications prepared by participants in the Young Historian Award, namely “The Young Historian Award, 8th Edition, 2016-2017” and “The Young Historian Award, 9th Edition, 2017-2018”.
About the National Archives
The National Archives of the United Arab Emirates, affiliate of the Ministry of Presidential Affairs, was established in 1969 upon directives from the late Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al-Nahyan in order to collect and document all relating to the history and heritage of the UAE and the Gulf region. Forty years later, Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan issued Federal Law No. (7) of 2008 renaming it the National Center for Documentation and Research mandated with organizing the archives of the UAE governmental entities. Recently, the name of National Center for Documentation and Research as stated in the above mentioned law was changed to the National Archives following Federal Decree No. (1) of 2014, which is issued by Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the president of the UAE.
