The Middle Eastern Studies Program (MES) at American University of Sharjah (AUS) honored the winners of its first student essay competition during the International Students Association (INSA) conference held at AUS on Sunday, December 9.

Joud Al-Korani, an international studies student at AUS, won the AED 1,500 award for Best Essay with "From an Islamic State to a Secular One." The first runner up was AUS architecture student Naser Alzayani with "The Gate of the Great Mosque of Damascus by Gustav Bauernfeind" while the second runner-up was mass communication student Montaha E. Mousli with "Bahrain Under the Light." They were awarded AED 1,000 and AED 500 respectively.

According to Dr. Kevin Gray, Director of the AUS Middle Eastern Studies Program, "This competition shows the strength of our students at AUS, and the vitality of our new Minor in Middle Eastern Studies."

Criteria for the competition included faculty nominations for the best student research paper on Middle Eastern Studies and students from all AUS colleges and schools were eligible to participate, provided they were enrolled in a course related to MES. 

"We had great essays and I really enjoyed reading them," said Dr. Imed Nsiri, Chair of the MES minor and Assistant Professor in the Department of Arabic and Translation Studies.

The prizes for the best student papers were awarded by Dr. Thomas John Hochstettler, AUS Provost, at the conference.