13.5 MILLION students, whittled down to 1.

A 7th-grade Sudanese student has just been crowned the Arab Reading Champion of 2019.

Congratulations to Hadeel Anwar! Hadeel was congratulated in person by HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai who also shared a message on Twitter, “Congratulations to the people of Sudan. My message to them is their future looks bright and beautiful with their persistent and enlightened young generations.”

Hadeel joined Dubai’s ruler on stage

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Hadeel takes home a life-changing sum of money after the win

The aim of the competition is to preserve the Arabic language and the challenge grows year on year. This year saw competitors from 49 countries! Participants (all Arabs between the ages of 8 and 18) are encouraged to read 50 books a year, they are then tested on the reading materials and the winners are judged based on the results.

The awards at Dubai Opera were attended by top readers from multiple countries, but it was Hadeel who was announced as the winner of AED500,000.

Egypt draws the highest number of participants in the Arab Reading Challenge every year in the challenge that requires 99,000 supervisors.

HH Sheikh Mohammed also recognised other top students at the awards

Among the Arab students living in foreign countries, Mahmoud Bilal from Sweden was announced the winner. Congratulations to everyone who works hard to preserve the Arabic language. pic.twitter.com/UAc3NHZlbr

— HH Sheikh Mohammed (@HHShkMohd) November 13, 2019