Students from the College of Architecture, Art and Design (CAAD) at American University of Sharjah (AUS) won nine of the 13 awards at the Sheikha Manal Young Artist Award 2013. The awards were reviewed by a renowned panel of judges from the local and international arts community.

Bahar Al Bahar scooped the prestigious People's Choice Award, which is decided by public vote, for his work "Fusion" while Samar Idris and Tayma Bittard won first and second prize, respectively in the Multimedia category.

Sara Alagroobi, Bahar Al Bahar and Nada Abu Shakra, received first, second and third prizes, respectively, in the Photography category. Joint second prize for the Fine Arts category was won by Hatem Hatem for his work "Identify Portrait" and Nasser Alzayani for "Wind Towers." Third place was awarded to Sara Alagroobi for "Solace."

The top three prizes in each category carried cash awards of AED 50,000, AED 30,000 and AED 20,000. The awards were presented in Dubai on December 8.

Thirty AUS students made the final shortlist of 50. The panel of judges included Sheikha Wafa Hasher Al Maktoum, Founder of FN Designs; Sheikha Maisa Al Qassimi, Programmes Manager at the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi; Marjan Farjam, Director of The Farjam Foundation; Antonia Carver, Director of Art Dubai; and Cyril Zammit, Director of Design Days.

Peter Di Sabatino, Dean of the College of Architecture, Art and Design at AUS, said, "We are very proud to have, yet again, won a number of awards at the Sheikha Manal Young Artist Award. With a total of nine awards, I am pleased to see our young students being recognized for their creative work, which of course is complimented by the great support and excellent education of our faculty."

The Sheikha Manal Young Artists Awards were launched in 2006 as an annual visual art competition, designed to encourage, recognize and promote emerging artists from the UAE. The award is popular among university students majoring in art, design and multimedia. The contest is open to all UAE-based students, male and female, between 18 and 30 years old.