ADIHEX launches ‘Best Poem Describing Birds and Hunting’ Competition

ABU DHABI – The Higher Organising Committee of the Abu Dhabi International Hunting and Equestrian Exhibition (ADIHEX 2021) has announced the opening for participation in the Best Poems Describing Birds and Hunting.

The competition, which is part of the 18th edition of ADIHEX, brings together two ancient heritage arts from the Gulf region; namely Nabati and falconry.

The immensely popular Nabati poetry is a vernacular Arabic poetry that expresses sentiments while stemming from the Arabic dialects of the Arabian Peninsula.

The tradition of falconry, deeply-rooted in the UAE, represents the values that allowed the Bedouin to flourish, such as the sense of courage, honour and nobility, as well as the virtues of patience, willpower and companionship. 

The Higher Organising Committee noted this year’s competition targets young poets as part of joint efforts “to encourage and motivate the new generations of amateurs and enthusiasts of this authentic poetry to develop their creative and literary skills and to preserve the cultural heritage which expresses the authentic Arab values”.

The competition has three categories:  Most Beautiful Nabati Poem Describing Birds, Most Beautiful Nabati Poem Describing Falconry and Most Beautiful Nabati Poem Describing the Loss of Birds.

The poems will be examined by a jury of leading Nabati poets and experts according to specific criteria that take into account the beautiful rhythmic structure, the aesthetics of describing falconry, the falconer’s unique relationship with his bird and the importance of the hunting trip for him.

The competition, which is exclusively dedicated to Nabati poetry, is open to poets of all nationalities aged between 18 and 28 years old.

According to the Higher Organising Committee, each poem must be new and not previously published, between 15 and 25 verses long and following the rules of Nabati verse.

Participants must include a recital of their poem in their own voice, along with a brief biography of themselves, the committee also indicated.

“Poems must be typed and sent only to [email protected] by August 31, 2021. The results of the competition will be announced during ADIHEX,” the committee said in a statment.    

Throughout previous editions, the competition has encouraged poets to write about falconry, since there was shortage of poems in this field compared to the popularity of falconry in the region.

The 18th ADIHEX is held under the patronage of Sheikh Hamdan bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the Ruler’s Representative in Al Dhafra Region and Chairman of the Emirates Falconers’ Club, from September 27 to October 3, 2021, at the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre (ADNEC).