Held under the umbrella of the Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Initiatives, the Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Creative Sports Award has announced that registration for the 11^th Edition of the Award will open on Monday, 1^st April 2019, and the last day of submission will be 31^st August 2020.

With the UAE celebrating 2019 as the Year of Tolerance, “Tolerance in Sports” will be the theme of this edition of the Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Creative Sports Award, which are organized under the patronage of HH Sheikh Hamdan Bin Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Chairman of Dubai Sports Council (DSC), and are the biggest award in terms of value and diversity of categories, and dedicated to inspiring creativity in sports - not just in the UAE, but around the Arab world and the worldwide.

This 11^th Edition of the Award will recognize and honor “the best projects, programs and initiatives that contribute towards the empowerment of societies through the values of Tolerance and Knowledge Management in the world of sports, or any other area approved by the Award’s Board of Trustees”.

The qualifying period for the 11^th Edition of the Award is from 1^st September 2018 to 31^st August 2020, and the General Secretariat of the Award has invited Individuals, Teams and Organizations from across the UAE and the Arab world, and Sports Organizations from around the globe to send in their nominations.

Details of the 11^th Edition of the Award were announced during a meeting, convened by Moaza AlMarri, the Secretary General of the Award, with media representatives at the Dubai Sports Council’s (DSC) headquarters in Dubai Design District, in the presence of Nasser Aman AlRahma, Director of the Award and Assistant Secretary General of DSC, and other members of the Secretariat General of the Award.

Conveying the greetings of HE Mattar AlTayer, Deputy Chairman of Dubai Sports Council and Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the MBR Creative Sports Award, to everyone, Al Marri emphasized the Award’s commitment to build on the success achieved in the past decade by further developing work and launching initiatives that are fully aligned with the wise leadership’s directives and the UAE’s vision, and keep pace with developments around the world, particularly in the sports sector.

Al Marri noted: “We are extremely proud of the valuable work achieved in the past decade, during which we have honored as many as 230 leading figures, creative individual athletes and innovative groups and corporates from around the world. This is aligned with the Award’s vision and objectives, which aims to promote the sports sector by supporting creative achievements and honoring innovators in all areas of sports-related work. The Award is also an accolade to recognize efforts exerted by distinguished and innovative figures to develop the work of sports institutions at the local, Arab and global level and to promote competitiveness.”

She added: “The Award has achieved distinguished results and earned a prestigious position at the forefront of all local, Arab and international awards. It has also attracted athletes and local, Arab and international sports federations to take part and compete for the honor of winning. This achievement was possible because it is associated with the name and vision of HH Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of UAE and Ruler of Dubai, who has dedicated his life to creating a better future through distinctive initiatives and is keen to meet with winners and recognize their achievements. It has also been possible thanks to the directives of HH Sheikh Hamdan Bin Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Patron of the Award, and to the leading role of HH Sheikh Ahmed Bin Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Chairman of the Award and President of the UAE National Olympic Committee.”

Theme of the Award

Talking about the theme of the 11^th MBR Creative Sports Award, “Tolerance in Sports”, Al Marri said: “The award honors the best projects, programs and initiatives that apply creative work in the empowerment of societies through the values of Tolerance and Knowledge Management or any other area approved by the Award’s Board of Trustees. This theme aligns with the wise leadership’s directives and falls under the banner of the Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Initiatives’ Community Empowerment category.”

“The Award aims to encourage local, Arab and international sports institutions to launch and implement initiatives that achieve positive results within the important theme chosen annually. This theme complements the achievements made in the previous editions of the award, which focused on ‘Governance in Sports’, ‘Empowerment of Women in Sports’ and ‘Empowerment of Youth in the Sports Field’.”

Thanking Partners

Nasser AlRahma, Director of the Award, stressed the Board of Trustees’ keenness to communicate and cooperate with supporting entities - notably local, Arab and international media organizations - in a bid to achieve the Award’s desired objectives of developing the sports sector and increasing sports achievements in all fields.

He said: “Local, Arab and international media organizations play a valuable role, which is not limited to reporting news about the Award and its achievements. We regard them as our fundamental partners in spreading the mission and vision of the Award and conveying its message to the sports sector, while supporting the award in promoting the culture of creativity in sports work. Accordingly, we are keen to arrange regular meetings with media representatives ahead of launching a new edition of the Award, and to communicate with them all year long.”

Giving an overview of the growth witnessed by the Award over the past 10 years, AlRahma added: “The previous editions of the Award featured 2,188 participants from 188 countries, including 583 participants from the UAE, 1386 Arabs and 219 international participants. We honoured 230 winners from different fields of sports work, out of which 110 were from the UAE, 104 Arabs and 16 international representatives.

“The number of winners in the Individual Sports Creativity category was 165, while there were 19 winning teams and 46 institutions in the Group Creativity and Corporate Creativity categories respectively on the local, Arab and international levels.”

Partnerships and Categories

HE Moaza AlMarri emphasized that the Award has strong communication and cooperation relations with 204 National Olympic Committees, 178 Paralympic Committees, 33 Summer International Olympic Federations and 7 Winter International Olympic Federations, as well as with 69 Arab National Olympic Committees and Federation, and 34 International Federations acknowledged by the International Olympic Committee. She also said that the prize-purse allocated for the 11th edition of the Award is AED 7.5 million.

Smart Registration and Arbitration

During the meeting, it was announced that communication with the sports sector will continue through the Award’s Smart Portal, which includes the website and smart application, and allows registration, submission of applications and uploading of required documents. The application was designed by the Award’s work team and has since streamlined the application submission process for individual athletes and sports federations and institutions.

Additionally, it was announced that the Smart Remote Arbitration mechanism will be used for the third consecutive edition, which allows referees to manage tasks from their homeland, with no need for them to gather in one location. Decisions and marks of jury members will be compiled and calculated via a program designed by the Award’s teams to ensure full transparency and integrity. This system was successfully implemented for the first time in the Award’s 10^th Edition.

Moreover, it was announced that the Sports Creativity Symposium and the Sports Creativity Forum will also be held this year to further spread the culture of creativity in sports work and ensure that athletes and sports institutions achieve full benefit.