President His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan has honoured ten inspirational people whose selfless deeds have positively impacted the UAE neighborhood as a part of the twelfth version of the Abu Dhabi Awards. The ceremony passed off at Qasr Al Hosn in Abu Dhabi.
For the previous twenty years, the Abu Dhabi Awards has served as a nationwide platform that embodies the UAE’s journey of giving, selflessness, and appreciation impressed by the legacy of the UAE’s Founding Father, the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, and carried ahead below the management of H.H. Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan. The Abu Dhabi Awards reaffirms the deeply held perception that each act of generosity strengthens unity and social concord.
Since its inception, the Abu Dhabi Awards has honoured 110 people from 18 nationalities whose contributions span various fields, together with healthcare, volunteering, training, cultural preservation, environmental safety, and the empowerment of individuals of dedication. Coinciding with the 12 months of Neighborhood, the Awards continues to uphold its humanitarian mission in reflecting the UAE’s enduring values of concord and social duty.
In the course of the ceremony, the inspiring tales of the honourees had been showcased, highlighting that giving shouldn’t be restricted by age, nationality, or career and represents a common human worth able to creating constructive change in society.
H.H. Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan congratulated the honourees and wished them continued success of their contributions to the UAE neighborhood and humanity at giant. The President additionally affirmed that honouring these people displays the nation’s dedication to recognising those that uphold integrity, unity, and social duty.
The ceremony was attended by H.H. Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi; H.H. Lt. Basic Sheikh Saif bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Inside; H.H. Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of International Affairs; H.H. Sheikh Theyab bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Chairman of the Presidential Courtroom for Improvement and Fallen Heroes’ Affairs; H.H. Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Chairman of the Presidential Courtroom for Particular Affairs; Sheikh Sultan bin Hamdan Al Nahyan, Advisor to the UAE President; Sheikh Nahyan bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, Minister of Tolerance and Coexistence; and Sheikh Mohammed bin Hamad bin Tahnoun Al Nahyan, Advisor to the UAE President, together with the households of the honorees, award companions, and supporters., together with the households of the honourees, plenty of previous Abu Dhabi Awards recipients, representatives of the Awards’ companions, and supporters.
This spherical’s Abu Dhabi Awards honoured ten distinguished people whose excellent contributions have enriched and uplifted the UAE neighborhood, together with:
-Obaid Kenish Al Hameli
A businessman and philanthropist, Obaid Kenish Al Hameli has made vital contributions to neighborhood improvement and charitable work. Regardless of shedding his mother and father at a younger age, he pursued his ambitions with dedication.
Al Hameli started as a discipline information for oil exploration groups and was an early advocate encouraging youth within the Al Dhafra area to proceed their training. In 1998, he launched the Obaid Bin Kenish Al Hameli Award for Educational Excellence, the primary of its form in Al Dhafra, which has helped elevate academic requirements throughout the area.
-Moza Mohamed Al Hafiti
Moza Al Hafiti is a task mannequin in training with greater than twenty years of service as a trainer on the Zayed Academic Complicated in Dibba Al-Fujairah. She is understood for revolutionary contributions which have enhanced the educational atmosphere and for her dedication to nurturing an knowledgeable, artistic technology grounded in robust values.
Two of her most notable initiatives embrace the Interactive Digital Prayer Rug for educating prayer and a Digital Library launched throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. She has led quite a few academic programmes to develop college students’ expertise, instil values, and prepare lecturers via voluntary workshops.
Extensively recognised for her impression, she was listed among the many Prime 50 nominees for the GEMS Training World Instructor Prize and has obtained main honours, together with the Khalifa Award for Training, the Hamdan Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Award for Distinguished Educational Efficiency, and the Sharjah Award for Academic Excellence.
-Rashid Abdullah Al Nuaimi
Rashid Abdullah Al Nuaimi is an completed nationwide determine throughout quite a lot of fields, together with authorities, tradition, and philanthropy, whose journey of giving is deeply intertwined with the historical past of the nation.
Al Nuaimi has held a number of outstanding management positions, together with serving as Minister of State for International Affairs from 1977 to 1990 and later as Minister of International Affairs from 1990 to 2006, throughout which he performed a key function within the implementation of the UAE’s overseas coverage and the strengthening of its regional and worldwide presence. Earlier in his profession, he served as Undersecretary on the Ministry of Info and Tourism.
He additionally served as the primary Commissioner Basic of the Abu Dhabi Pavilion at Expo 1970 in Osaka, Japan, the place he represented the Emirate of Abu Dhabi. He performed a pivotal function in laying the groundwork for bilateral ties with Japan and in opening new avenues for political and financial cooperation between the 2 international locations. He efficiently secured the required sources to ship a exceptional pavilion that proudly represented the Emirate.
Along with his distinguished authorities service, Al Nuaimi is well-known for his dedication to the neighborhood and his dedication to humanitarian and charitable initiatives. Amongst his most notable contributions are the institution of the Rashid Centre for Diabetes and Analysis in 2010 and the Rashid bin Abdullah Al Nuaimi Charitable Basis in 2012.
Al Nuaimi has additionally made vital contributions to the cultural discipline. He authored what’s extensively thought of to be the primary trendy Emirati novel, Shahenda, in 1971, and his e book Zayed: From the Metropolis of Al Ain to the Presidency of the Union is a vital nationwide reference that paperwork points of the life and legacy of the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan.
-Late Mohamed Ibrahim Obaidallah
A nationwide determine whose life was outlined by generosity, kindness, and repair to others, the late Mohamed Ibrahim Obaidallah devoted his efforts to humanitarian and charitable work and to advancing healthcare within the UAE. Notably, he based the Obaidallah Geriatric Hospital in Ras Al Khaimah in 2009, the primary specialised hospital of its form within the nation.
He additionally performed a key function in creating healthcare amenities, together with the Dialysis Centre in Ras Al Khaimah and the Oral and Maxillofacial Surgical procedure Centre at Rashid Hospital in Dubai. His philanthropy prolonged to training via scholarships and help for college students in want.
A founding member of Beit Al Khair Society, he championed medical, aid, and improvement programmes that improved healthcare for a lot of. His honours embrace the UAE President Appreciation Award (2012), the UAE Pioneers Award (2017), and the Sheikh Hamdan Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Award for Medical Sciences (2009).
He handed away in 2025, leaving a strong instance of generosity, compassion, and humanitarianism.
-Salem Hamad Al Mansoori and Fatima Majed Al Mansoori
Following the passing of their five-year-old daughter Zahia, mother and father Salem and Fatima Al Mansoori selflessly selected to show their profound grief into seeds of hope and new life for others via a humanitarian determination that displays the generosity deeply rooted in Emirati society.
In a gesture of immense compassion, the Al Mansoori household determined to donate their daughter Zahia’s organs, a brave act that saved the lives of three individuals, together with two kids and an grownup, each throughout the UAE and overseas.
As the primary Emirati household to take this noble step, Salem and Fatima Al Mansoori’s determination has set a exceptional precedent, contributing to larger public consciousness of the UAE’s Hayat organ donation programme whereas demonstrating how loss might be was hope and the way one courageous act may help others and go away a constructive impression on society.
By their inspirational actions, the Al Mansoori household embodies a permanent message of selflessness, and their story is a testomony to the best values of humanity and a reminder that true generosity can reside on, even after one’s passing.
-Hamama Obaid Khamis
Born in Al Dhaid, Hamama Obaid Khamis realized conventional therapeutic from her mother and father and devoted her life to serving her neighborhood via natural cures, cauterisation remedy, and conventional midwifery.
For greater than seven many years, she welcomed hundreds of sufferers into her house from throughout the Emirates and the area. She provided care with out looking for fee, believing that therapeutic is each a humanitarian mission and a social responsibility. Earlier than the unfold of contemporary hospitals, she practiced as a midwife and helped ship many kids. By generosity, ability, and devotion, Hamama embodies the noblest values of service and giving.
-Abdelmonem Bin Eisa Alserkal
Abdulmonem Alserkal is a number one Emirati cultural determine who has enriched the humanities and tradition panorama within the UAE and the broader area.
His ardour for tradition and the artistic arts took form in Dubai’s Al Quoz with the founding of Alserkal Avenue, one of many area’s foremost cultural districts, house to galleries, efficiency areas, artistic establishments, and a vibrant hub for dialogue and innovation.
In 2019, he established the Alserkal Arts Basis, a non-profit organisation supporting artists, researchers, and college students via academic programmes, grants, and residencies, additional cementing Dubai and the UAE’s place as a world vacation spot for artwork and creativity.
Alserkal has served on advisory boards of main worldwide establishments, together with Tate and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Basis. His honours embrace the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (France) and the UAE Medal for Tradition and Creativity in recognition of his excellent contributions to the cultural sector.
-Late David Heard
The late David Heard is carefully related to the trendy historical past of the UAE. Within the Sixties, he labored as an engineer in Abu Dhabi’s oil sector, serving to develop the business alongside Emirati colleagues and contributing to the foundational strategic insurance policies that formed the nation’s vitality discipline.
Past his skilled achievements, Heard quietly devoted himself to documenting the UAE’s transformation from a pearl diving economic system to a contemporary, affluent nation. A passionate historian and writer, he wrote a number of notable works on the historical past of the UAE and the event of the area’s oil business.
Out of his deep affinity for the UAE and its individuals, he generously donated to New York College Abu Dhabi’s library greater than 440 archival items, collected over greater than 50 years. Heard handed away in 2024, leaving a legacy in training, cultural change, and the preservation of the UAE’s historical past.
-Late Sultan Ali Al Owais
The late Sultan Ali Al Owais was a famend patron of tradition and philanthropy whose life and sources had been devoted to tradition, data, and charitable work within the UAE and the area.
Believing in tradition’s function in advancing creativity and studying, he based the Sultan bin Ali Al Owais Cultural Award in 1987, immediately one of many Arab world’s most prestigious literary prizes, honouring a whole bunch of writers and intellectuals.
His generosity prolonged to humanitarian and improvement initiatives, together with the institution of faculties and hospitals and tangible help for training and healthcare regionally and regionally. He additionally contributed to nationwide infrastructure by funding 5 main dams in Fujairah and Ajman that proceed to provide water for farmers.
In 1996, the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan awarded him the Order of Zayed for his nationwide and cultural service.
Al Owais handed away in 2000. In June 2025, UNESCO celebrated the centenary of his delivery, recognising his distinguished impression on Emirati and Arab tradition and literature and his embodiment of UNESCO’s values of tradition and human id.
-Khaldoon Khalifa Al Mubarak
Over the previous twenty years, Khaldoon Khalifa Al Mubarak has made notable contributions to the developmental journey of Abu Dhabi and the UAE. In each place he has held, he has exemplified the values of dedication, service to the nation, professionalism, and integrity, representing the UAE with distinction and setting a strong instance for present and future generations.
As an influential UAE authorities policymaker and worldwide enterprise chief, Al Mubarak continues to help the nation’s broader goals of sustainable financial improvement and diversification, reflecting the UAE’s dynamic society and economic system. By his management, Al Mubarak oversees quite a few strategic tasks and initiatives that contribute to advancing the UAE management’s imaginative and prescient throughout various sectors, together with strategic worldwide relations, the economic system, funding, infrastructure, vitality, training, healthcare, superior expertise, and synthetic intelligence.
Along with his extremely regarded skilled accomplishments, His Excellency has served as an empowering chief, demonstrating the values of dedication, care, and respect. Throughout the organisations that he leads, Al Mubarak fosters a tradition of help and excellence, inspiring others to carry out at their greatest and nurturing a brand new technology of proficient professionals dedicated to carrying the UAE’s pioneering imaginative and prescient ahead.
Amongst a broad vary of obligations, Al Mubarak presently serves as Managing Director and Group CEO of Mubadala Funding Firm, a place he has held because the firm’s inception in 2002. He’s additionally Chairman of the Government Affairs Authority and has served as a member of the Abu Dhabi Government Council since 2004. Al Mubarak chairs and serves as a member on a number of nationwide and worldwide boards and better committees, reflecting his intensive and various portfolio.
Al Mubarak embodies Emirati management by reworking ambition into achievement, problem into alternative, and concepts into actuality, thereby contributing to the nation’s continued development and prosperity.