Sharjah:The UAE Board on Books for Young People’s (UAEBBY) has revealed that its ‘Read. Dream. Create’ campaign has received more than 90 applications for the third edition of the ‘Creative Imagination’ competition under two categories, ‘Creative writing’ and ‘Silent book’.

Targeting children and young people aged 6-18 years, the competition aims to stimulate their imagination and motivate them to write or illustrate stories creatively.

Meera Al Naqbi, Public Relations Executive at UAEBBY, said: “The competition aims to encourage children and young adults to express their ideas and feelings creatively and share them with others. Drawing, writing and storytelling play a key role in developing children’s imagination and personality, empowering them to contribute to the development of their countries.”

“In celebration of the Sharjah World Book Capital 2019, this edition of the competition has added a new category, ‘Silent book’, to introduce this type of books to the young generation. The interesting entries we have received so far is a measure of our successful efforts to offer children different means to express themselves, including silent books, which help break the language barriers and bring people from different cultures together,” she concluded.

The prize-winning entries will be announced during the 12^th edition of Sharjah Children Reading Festival set to take place from April 8-18, at Expo Centre Sharjah. The competition’s organising committee will award prizes worth AED 9,000 to the winners - AED 5,000, 3,000 and 1,000 for the first, second and third winners, respectively.

In addition to the cash prizes, winners will be presented a collection of selected books as well as a certificate of appreciation and their stories will be published on the campaign’s website. The winner of the first prize will have also the opportunity to meet a famous children’s book writer and attend all UAEBBY workshops.