The Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Creative Sports Award, announced the opening of nominations for the 8th edition of the award, inviting athletes, teams and local, Arab and international corporations to submit their nominations starting from April 1st to September 20th, according to Khalid Ali Bin Zayed, Secretary General of the Award.

The announcement, which included introducing new award categories covering scientific and intellectual production, came during a press conference held on Monday, at Dubai Press Club.

Bin Zayed said that their ideas and development plans are inspired from Vice President and Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum , and the guidance of the award’s patron H.H. Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai, and the follow up of the president of the award H.H. Sheikh Ahmed bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum.

He added that the award’s team works on translating the vision and ambitions of their highnesses, which led to the launch of new award categories and increase the prize value to reach a total of AED 7.5 million from the previous AED 7 million.

"Joining the Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Initiatives is a clear indication of the vital role the award plays to catalyze innovation in sport, especially that the award is inspired from His Highness Sheikh Mohammed’s ideas which believe in creativity as a state of mind that allows people to overcome all the challenges in a creative way," Bin Zayed said. "Over the last seven editions of the award, the board of Trustees, led by His Excellency Matar al Tayer, managed to use these guidelines as an action plan to reach the required development of the sport sector in the UAE, Arab region and the world."

He also invited all those interested to electronically submit their applications for the 8th edition, adding that the award’s team will conduct roadshows to promote the award.

On his part, Dr. Khalifa Al Shaali, member of the board of Trustees and head of technical committee, said that the 8th edition of the award will include the same categories as the previous edition such as, Individual Sports Creativity, Group Sports Creativity and Corporate Sports Creativity. Other categories includes Global participation which was allowed only for Corporate Sports Creativity Category starting from the fourth edition of the Award, as well as for the international sports federations and Paralympic national committees to promote sport among disabled people.

"We have also added Sports Achievement Category and Practical Intellectual Applications in Sport Category as well innovative initiative that back transparency and integrity, as the board of trustees promotes initiatives that help in developing sport in the world," Dr. Al Shaali said.

The head of the technical committee added that the award has attracted an increased number of participants from international federations, where the International Judo Federation won last edition’s award for its effort to promote judo among refugees.

He also said that nominations concern only achievements made during the period from 1st September 2015 until 20th September 2016, an extension of three weeks compared to previous editions to allow participants in the Paralympics games to participate in the award.

Source:WAM