Session 5:
Ahmed Mishari Al-Adwani Session, Abou Dhabi, 28-31 October 1996:

          This meeting was named after the prominent Kuwaiti poet Ahmed Mishari Al-Adwani and the capital of the United Arab Emirates, Abu Dhabi was chosen as the host for this ceremonial event, with which the U.A.E. Cultural Society contributed a great deal. The prize awarding ceremony was under the auspices of His Highness Sheikh Zayed ben Sultan Al-Nahyan, President of the U.A.E. A large number of poets, writers and critics from different Arab countries attended the event.

The prizes, in this meeting, were awarded as follows:

1. The Poetic Creativity Prize, valued at of US$ 40,000 (US Dollars forty thousand), was awarded to the Iraqi poetess Nazek Al-Malaeki for her complete poetic works.

2. The Poetry Criticism Prize, valued at of US$ 40,000 (US Dollars forty thousand), was awarded to the Egyptian critic Dr. Salah Fadhel for his complete critical works.

3. The Best Divan Prize, valued at US$ 20,000 (US Dollars twenty thousand), was suspended.

4. The Best Poem Prize, valued at of US$ 10,000 (US Dollars ten thousand), was awarded to the Egyptian poet Mohammed Al-Shahawi for his poem «The Exceptional Woman».

          * A three-topic seminar took place in this meeting. The first topic was devoted to Al-Adwani’s Poetry; the second on criticism, change and experimentation in the poetry of the Gulf region the Arab Peninsula; and the third was on the Arab contemporary poem as a reference.