The Abu Dhabi Music and Arts Foundation (Admaf) honoured two groups of young Emirati students with the annual Admaf Creativity Award, in recognition of their achievements in their fields of art.

The awards to students from the Higher Colleges of Technology, Abu Dhabi Women’s College (ADWC) were presented by Hoda Al-Khamis Kanoo, founder of Admaf, at an event at the HCT Women’s College.

The first group to receive the award is formed of 17 students from the college’s applied media department for their participation in Desert Rose 2010: The Start – an exhibition of a wide range of works from graphic design, multimedia, to photography, and video – that featured recently at the Ghaf Gallery in Abu Dhabi.

The recipients of the second award were a group of nine HCT interior design students, who contributed to the recently produced Children’s Opera premiere in Abu Dhabi by designing the masks, costumes and the full stage set up of the production.

The awards together amount to a total of Dh52,000 ($14,156), which will be evenly distributed among the two groups of students.

“Promoting home grown talent is one of Admaf’s priorities,” said Hoda Al-Khamis Kanoo. “Our education and community programmes, the annual festival, concerts and exhibitions we organise, all aspire to contribute to the artistic and cultural renaissance the UAE is going through.”

“Our young national artists are an important part of these developments. These students are our country’s cultural ambassadors, the pioneers of national art and culture. Their dedication and creativity in their respective fields are worthy of praise and encouragement,” she added.

Dr Dave Pelham, director of HCT, Abu Dhabi Women’s College, said: “The students at our college have consistently demonstrated high levels of determination and ambition.  The Admaf Creativity Awards provide evidence of what can be accomplished when talent, determination and the willingness to put forth great effort come together.”

Established in 1999, the Admaf Creativity Award is one of three annual awards presented by Admaf with the aim of promoting young national talent from Abu Dhabi’s universities, particularly in the fields of visual and performing arts as well as literature and film. – TradeArabia News Service