Young artists have been invited to submit their applications for ‘Her Highness Sheikha Manal Young Artist Award,’ now in its fourth year. 

The initiative was launched in 2005 under the patronage of Sheikha Manal bint Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the wife of Minister of Presidential Affairs Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan and president of  Dubai Women Establishment. It is aimed at promoting emerging artists from the Middle East region and educating the general public on the importance of art, said a statement.

Muna Bin Killi, executive director of Dubai Ladies Club, said: “HH Sheikha Manal Young Artist Award generated a lot of interest over the past couple of years, being particularly popular among university students majoring in Arts, Design and Multimedia.  This year’s competition will also offer an excellent opportunity for many young artists to gain recognition for their talents and works and we invite all those interested in participating to submit their applications.” 

The 2009 competition will cover three award categories – Fine Arts, Photography and Multimedia – and the application process will take place online via the competition’s newly launched website www.youngartistaward.ae

Interested participants will be able to submit their applications online, view selected artworks from previous years, and read about the nominated artists for this year’s competition.

Voting for the “People’s Choice Award” will also take place online, allowing a wider audience participation in the process, as compared to the previous competitions where voting only took place for a very limited period during the exhibition of selected artworks.

Interested participants will be able to submit their applications online from today until October 20. The competition is open for artists between 18 and 30 years of age. Only those who have not hosted a solo exhibition earlier are eligible to participate.

The competition’s three categories will each have three winners.  All three first prize winners will win Dh30,000, second-place winners will receive Dh20,000 and third-place winners will receive Dh10,000. –TradeArabia News Service