Dubai Ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum will crown the winners of the ninth edition of the Arab Reading Challenge on Thursday, October 23.

The challenge, launched by Sheikh Mohammed, who also serves as UAE Vice President and Prime Minister, in 2015, involves reading 50 books each year. Since its inception, more than 163 million students have taken part in the competition.

In announcing the crowning of this year's winners soon, Sheikh Mohammed said: "The fact that millions of students work hard to read 50 books every year is proof that passion for knowledge is inexhaustible, that reading is the path to reclaim civilisation, and that the Arabic language will remain integral to our nation's identity, spirit and future."

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In 2025, 32 million students from 132,112 schools in 50 countries participated in the ninth edition of the challenge, which is organised by the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Initiatives (MBRGI).

During the upcoming ceremony on Thursday, which will take place in Dubai's World Trade Centre, over Dh3 million in prizes will be up for grabs and accolades in five categories will be presented. They are as follows:

Country-level champions will compete in this category. The Arab Reading Champion will receive a cash prize of Dh500,000, while the second and third place winners receive Dh100,000 and Dh70,000, respectively.

The list of representatives includes students from Morocco, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Djibouti, Egypt, Palestine, Kuwait, Bahrain, Mauritania and Jordan, UAE, Lebanon, Iraq, Tunisia, Libya, Yemen and Syria.

Reem Adel Al Zarouni will represent the UAE after winning the country-level title in the challenge.

Winners in the People of Determination category receive cash prizes of Dh200,000 for the first place, Dh100,000 for the second place and Dh50,000 for the third place.

Winners in the Community Champion category receive a total of Dh200,000, of which Dh100,000 goes to the first-place winner, Dh70,000 to the second-place winner, and Dh30,000 to the third-place winner.

The Best School title will go to the school which most effectively delivered the ninth edition's qualifiers in line with the Arab Reading Challenge criteria, engaged the largest number of students, and achieved a high rate of participants reading and summarising 50 books each.

The school receiving the title will receive a prize of Dh1 million, while the schools in the second and third place will receive Dh500,000 and Dh300,000, respectively.

Schools in Morocco, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Palestine, Egypt, Kuwait, Bahrain, Lebanon, Mauritania, Tunisia, Libya, Syria and the UAE will compete this year. The UAE will be represented by Atika bint Zaid School – 1^st Cycle.

This prize aims to recognise the role of supervisors in fostering a culture of reading, facilitating student participation, guiding book selection, and supporting students as they navigate any reading or comprehension challenges.

Awards for this category are Dh300,000 for first place, Dh100,000 for second place and Dh50,000 for third place.

Last year's edition of the Arab Reading Challenge attracted 28.2 million students from 50 countries.

The overall title was shared by Hatem Mohammed Jassim Al Tarkawi (Syria), Kadi bint Musaffar Al Khathaami (Saudi Arabia), and Salsabil Hassan Sawalha (Palestine).

Mohammed Ahmed Hassan Abdul Halim from Egypt (Al-Azhar Al-Sharif) took first place in the People of Determination category.

Al Ibdaa School – Cycle 1 (UAE) won Best School, Rabie Ahmed (Syria) was named Outstanding Supervisor, and student Mohammed Al-Refaie (Sweden) was crowned Community Champion.

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