The award honours individuals, teams and establishments that demonstrate creativity in the field of sports.

Named after His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, vice-president and Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates and ruler of Dubai, the award was launched in 2009 and is designed to make the United Arab Emirates a global hub for sport creativity, leadership and excellence.

A top prize of $250,000 (£150,000/€182,000) is handed out to winners in three separate categories: UAE, Arab and International.

Sixteen Arab countries participated in the inaugural award, growing to 19 last year, while 99 National Olympic Committees (NOCs) have been involved since international nominations were introduced in 2012.

Organisers also claim that 23 of the 26 members of the Association of Summer Olympic International Federations (ASOIF) have applied for the award in the past two years, with 203 nominations received in 2013.

Secretary general of the Dubai Sports Council, Dr Ahmed Al Sharif, was joined at today's launch by a number of officials from the Board of Trustees of the award, including chairman of the Technical Committee, Dr Khalifa Al Shaali.

Olympic and world champion Oussama Mellouli of Tunisia is a past winner of the Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Creative Sports Award ©Getty Images



"We've had a tremendous response to this initiative in the past five years and we are confident of further establishing this award as one of the foremost on the international and regional stages," said Sharif.

"We owe a lot of gratitude to His Highness Sheikh Hamdan Bin Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the chairman of Dubai Sports Council and the patron of this award along with His Highness Sheikh Ahmed Bin Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the President of the UAE National Olympic Committee and chairman of the award for backing us all the way."

Past winners in the individual athlete category include Tunisia's double Olympic and World Championship gold medallist Oussama Mellouli and London 2012 1500 metres champion Taoufik Makhloufi of Algeria.

Last year, International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach was named International Sports Figure of 2013, while fellow IOC member Nawal El Moutawakel of Morocco won the Arab Sports Figure that has contributed to the enrichment of women sports award.

Football's governing body FIFA won the International Organisation - International Category Award.

Nominations will open from tomorrow and run until August 31.

A panel of judges will meet between September and October to assess the nominations before announcing the winners in each category in late November.

The award presentations are scheduled to take place on January 14 next year.

For more information on the award, click here.

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]


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