The Ministry of Culture and Knowledge Development announced the launch of the Award “ The Reader” under the patronage of His Excellency Sheikh Nahyan bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, Minister of Culture and Knowledge Development for its employees, in accordance with the month of reading in the UAE. The competition will be managed as follows: the employees who read the most number of books from the Ministry’s smart library will be calculated starting from the first of March until the end of the year. Each month five of the employees who read the most books will be honored as a motivation for employees to read more. HE Afra Al Sabri, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Culture and Knowledge Development, confirmed that "The Reader Award" is one of the internal initiatives implemented by the Ministry of Culture during the month of reading. She added that the ministry took advantage of the already existing smart E-Library which was launched at the end of 2016 last year with more than 130000 electronic books, 112000 journal and 400,000 books in both the Arabic and English languages available with an easy press of a button. Al Sabri added that the "The Reader Award" is not the only internal initiative launched by the Ministry in March, the Ministry also launched the competition " Reading is Our Future ". It is a weekly competition with questions asked over the Ministry's website with weekly prizes for the winners. Stressing that initiatives and public programs put forward by the ministry this month exceeded 160 initiatives available to all segments of the society. The Ministry of Culture and Knowledge Development also launched the project "Preparing Young Authors" with the aim of discovering and supporting young talents in literary fields, especially short story, poetry and narrative story writers. The project includes programs and awards such as the Short Story Award, the Young Writer Initiative , a series of releases about the UAE literature and culture by UAE nationals and citizens and launching “The Youth Literature Program” which focuses on holding regular meetings in cultural centers with writers and intellectuals to deliver their experience to talented young people, in addition to specialized seminars and workshops. Her Excellency Afra Al Sabri, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Culture and Knowledge Development, said that the launch of the project "Preparing Young Authors" represents an integrated program with a large number of initiatives, activities and competitions lying within the framework of the Ministry’s efforts aimed at discovering and supporting talents and creatives. She further stressed that the Ministry's activities during the month of reading focuses on the UAE youth, the main target of all the activities offered by the ministry. Al Sabri explained that all internal and public initiatives receives the direct support and follow up from His Excellency Sheikh Nahyan bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, Minister of Culture and and Knowledge Development, who ensures that the ministry plays a leading role in the dissemination of cultural and knowledge awareness and strengthening the capacity of our community.