00:00The Arabic Reading Challenge recently took place in the UAE and saw youth participation
00:09from 15 countries, including the UAE, to read at least 50 books in Arabic during one academic
00:14year, making it the largest initiative of its kind to ever have taken place in the region.
00:18We are looking forward to make the reading one of the aims that all students are looking
00:24for and achieve this amount of books which are read by students. We are talking about
00:31more than 100 million books read by our students in all over the Arabic world and some other
00:38countries. We are now achieving the aim and we are looking forward for many other aims
00:45to this year.
00:46The finalists were excited to make it to this stage of the competition, which will award
00:49the winner a US$150,000 prize.
00:52I would give them for poor people and I would buy books for them and give it to them so
00:57they will read more.
00:59I think I will use it for my next education and I will use it for my family to be happy.
01:06I thank for God so I may pay for poor people with some money for the poor people and also
01:19I will give my teachers and everyone who helped me in this competition.
01:26Actually my parents told me that I shouldn't spend a lot of money from it. They told me
01:30now my money is a little bit small. I should wait until I grow up and I do something really
01:37painful for the society. So I don't think I will spend a lot of it now. I should keep it.
01:43At the last event of the challenge, the finalists were asked a question by a panel of judges
01:47with one minute to answer and impress the audience.
01:49The audience's vote accounted for 10% of the rating system alongside the judges' votes
01:53and previous tests.
01:55After all the challenges were complete, the judges chose 7-year-old Farah Jaloud from
01:59Algeria as the lucky winner.
02:01Launched in September 2015 by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice
02:06President and Prime Minister of the UAE and ruler of Dubai, the Arab Reading Challenge
02:10aims to encourage 1 million students in the Arab world to read 50 million books each year.
02:15Logan Fish for Gulf News.
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