TRENDS
Youth Council
Competition
The Future Awards is a flagship initiative by the TRENDS Youth Council designed to celebrate and empower the next generation of thinkers, storytellers, and researchers in the United Arab Emirates. The competition is held annually and includes two main tracks—Future Writers Awards for school students and Future Researchers Awards for university students.
This initiative seeks to encourage creativity, critical thinking, and academic excellence by offering young people a platform to express original ideas, explore real-world issues, and contribute meaningfully to public knowledge, with the winning submissions being published and showcased by TRENDS.
Launch Date
1st of June 2025
Future Writers Awards – School
The Future Writers Awards is a creative competition open to UAE-based school students across various grade levels. It encourages young writers to develop original narrative works in Arabic or English that reflect creativity, imagination, and social awareness.
Submission Deadline
1st of October 2025
Eligibility & Guidelines
Participants must be residents of the United Arab Emirates
Parental approval is required for participation
Submissions may be completed individually or in pairs
All entries must be original and written in clear and correct Arabic or English
The use of artificial intelligence will lead to disqualification
Accepted Submission Formats (10-20 pages)
Illustrated Storybooks
Comics / Graphic Novels / Manga
Traditional storybooks
Any other creative narrative-driven format
Future Researchers Awards – University
The Future Researchers Awards is an academic writing competition targeting undergraduate students enrolled in UAE-based universities. It aims to foster a culture of evidence-based inquiry by inviting students to submit original research papers relevant to their field of study.
Submission Deadline
1st of October 2025
Eligibility & Guidelines
Open to undergraduate students only
Participants must be currently enrolled at any university located in the UAE
Submissions must be individual, original work
All entries must be written in clear and correct Arabic or English
The use of artificial intelligence will lead to disqualification
Submission Requirements
Word Count:
2,000-4,500 words
Format:
APA/Chicago style, including proper in-text citations and a reference list
File type:
Microsoft Word or PDF
Open Topic:
Relevant topic from their field of study
Award Ceremony
The Sharjah International Book Fair
Awards & Recognition
Writers:
One winner per category
Winning works will be published and showcased at the TRENDS booth
Researchers:
3 winners
Winning papers will be published on the TRENDS website’s Youth category
All participants will receive a certificate of participation