Khalifa Award Official Website

FAQ

Questions about nomination

When are nominations opened?

Applications are accepted with the start of each new session of the Award as from May 1st and till end October of each calendar year.
For further information, you may contact the General Secretariat of the Award (Nomination Office): Al Ain, United Arab Emirates, info@kiaai.com, Tel:+ 971 3 783 24 34, Fax: + 971 3 783 25 50

Who is eligible for nomination?

Applicants who fulfil the terms and conditions of each of the Award’s category.

How to apply for nomination?

- Visit the Award’s website www.kiaai.ae
- Press “Participation” form button on the home page
- Upload the application
- Read the terms and conditions
- Fill in the personal data and affidavit (online)
- Fill in the boxes of the criteria of each category on the application form (online)
- E-mail all the required supporting evidences and documents arranged according to the criteria in PDF format.

To whom will the Award be granted?

The award will be granted to individuals or parties fulfilling the criteria and engaged in date palm and agricultural innovation, namely organizations, institutions and faculties engaged in agricultural sector and date palm; international organizations; non-governmental organizations; private companies with distinguished projects in these fields; distinguished researchers, scientists, technicians, engineers and growers. The applicants may be self-nominated without the recommendation of any other party or person. The Award may be granted to the same applicant (individual/company/body) only once under the same category.

Can a nominee in the field of studies and researches submit more than one research or study?

No, the researcher cannot submit more than one research in the same year under the studies and researches category of the Award.

Can a nominee who applied for the previous years’ Award and was not a success re-apply this year?

According to the terms and conditions of each of the Award’s categories, a nominee may apply for the Award (after updating the file) under the same or other category.

Can a winner of last years’ Award re-apply this year?

Yes. Winners of one of the award's categories may apply again in the following year, but only for a category other than the one they have won. Winners may apply again under the same category but with a different project 3 years after winning that category.

Is participation in more than category possible? What is the maximum participation?

Yes. You can participate in more than one category in the same year but under maximum two categories.

Is it possible to participate with the same content under more than one category?

No. It is not possible to participate with the same content under more than one category.

Can the application be submitted in hard copy?

No. All applications should be exclusively submitted through the Award’s website. Works are not to be submitted in person.

Are individuals entitled to nominate themselves?

Yes. Individuals my directly nominate themselves under any of the Award’s categories provided that the nominee fulfils the required criteria of the category are duly met.

Questions about assessment

Who are the members of the Scientific Committee (Jury)? On which basis are they selected?

The Scientific Committee consists of eminent scientists and experts in the fields of date palm and agricultural innovation. They will unanimously select the winner in each category of the Award. Each application will be given to an appropriate team for assessment. Assessors of Khalifa International Award for Date Palm and Agricultural Innovation will review each submission, individually and collectively. The assessment process is to be done according to pre-established selection criteria for the Award. The Scientific Committee consists of Messrs. Prof. Franz J. Hoffmann / USA / President, Prof. Harrison Hughes / USA / Member, Prof. Jose Cubero / Spain / Member, Prof. Yvon Martel / Canada / Member, Prof. Fatima Al Ansari / UAE / University of UAE/ Member, Prof. Ibrahim Saqer Al Muslim / KSA / Member, Prof. Samir Al Shakir / International Date Palm Network/ Member.

What are the stages of assessment/evaluation?

- Stage 1: Administrative and technical screening: Does the participation fulfil the requirements and criteria of the category under which it has been submitted or not
- Stage 2: Assessment of the research abstracts by expert and specialists to verify technical quality of the participation
- Stage 3: overall assessment of the participation application or file by the scientific committee.

Should the juries fail to open the electronic file for any reason whatsoever, would the file be neglected or barred from participation?

Under no circumstances would the jury neglect any file. On the contrary, and in such a case, the coordination committee of the Award would directly communicate with the concerned nominee to resolve the problem of file opening. The participant in any of the Award’s categories is, however, advised to have the computer file designed in a common and easily handled formats such as Word, PDF…etc and for the file size not to exceed 5 MB for the purpose of easy downloading and browsing. The submitted file should be also fully checked through opening it on more than one computer prior to uploading it on the Award’s website.

Is assessment process strictly confidential?

Exactly, as confidentiality is one of the important factor on which success of Khalifa International Award for Date Palm and Agricultural Innovation is dependent, all the information and materials related to the applications to the Award are treated as strictly confidential and accessible only to authorized persons within the Award’s process.
Furthermore; all members of the jury and the other persons engaged in the granting process of the Award undertake to sign a non-disclosure agreement so as to guarantee handling of all the information and materials within a strictly confidential framework. The Scientific Committee (jury) is also bound by a confidentiality and no-disclosure agreement with respect to any information related to the applications. The Scientific Committee (jury) is also bound by the confidentiality and non-disclosure agreement of the applications. The Secretariat General of Khalifa International Award for Date Palm and Agricultural Innovation is committed, as well, to handle with strict confidentiality all the participating files which prove unsuccessful and such files are placed in safe storages non-accessible to anyone.

Can the Award be withheld from the nominees?

The Jury has the right to withhold the Award for any category if the requirements have not been duly met.

General Administrative Questions

How can I make sure that the Award’s Administration has received my file?

Receipt of the participation file in any of the Award’s categories is confirmed by the Administration when the Office (in charge of nominations) of the Secretariat General of the Award communicates, through e-mail and direct phone, that the application and supporting file submitted by the nominee for the selected category through the Award’s website have been received, accepted and listed in the competition.

When will the nominee be notified that he/she is among winners of the Award?

After the press conference held by the Secretariat General of the Award to announce names of the winners of each session within the second week of February every year.

What makes us participate in the Award? What are the benefits of such a participation?

The Award has many benefits and advantages, most important of which are:
- The Award is a special appreciation from H.H Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahayan, President of the United Arab Emirates to all innovators and pioneers in the field of date palm and agricultural innovation around the world.
- The winner will receive an appreciation certificate, a trophy and a financial reward during a ceremony held in the capital, Abu Dhabi.
- Winners may use the logo of the award on their advertisement and marketing materials for 3 years after receiving the award.
- Winners will be publicized and promoted through local and international media in addition to the Award's magazine, website and the Winners Book issued by the Secretariat General of the Award every three years.

Should the data and other required details of the application be filled in electronically or by hand?

All applications have been designed and changed into electronic forms for all categories of the Award to be filled in electronically by the participant; i.e. they should be filled in electronically and handwriting is not acceptable.

I have downloaded and filled in the application form but the boxes are not sufficient to write more details. What should I do?

The boxes intended for each question have been carefully designed to satisfy the requirements and there is no need to include details more than required as the attachments cover all the required details. Therefore; please stick to the available boxes.

Where is the head office of the Award? Are there branch offices in the other Emirates?

Head office of the Secretariat General of Khalifa International Award for date Palm and Agricultural Innovation is located in the capital Abu Dhabi. There is also a special branch office in Al Ain, Abu Dhabi, UAE, intended only for receiving participations and coordination with the nominees. It has to be pointed out, however, that the Award has no representative offices elsewhere in the world. You may directly communicate with the Award’s Administration through:
1- Head Office in the capital Abu Dhabi, Tel:+ 971 23049999, Fax: + 97123049990
Website: www.kiaai.ae, e-mail: sg@kiaai.ae, Facebook: kiadpai, Twitter: @kiadpai
2- Special Coordination Office for receiving participations in the Award, Al Ain, Abu Dhabi, Tel: 0097137832434, Fax: 0097137832550, e-mail: info@kiaai.ae, website: www.kiaai.ae

Is the Award restricted to a specific person, company or party?

No. The Award is granted to individuals or parties fulfilling the criteria and engaged in date palm and agricultural innovation, namely organizations, institutions and faculties engaged in agricultural sector and date palm; international organizations; non-governmental organizations; private companies with distinguished projects in these fields; distinguished researchers, scientists, technicians, engineers and growers.

Should the nominee obtain approval of his/her employer?

Yes. The nominee should send a no-objection letter from the employer.

Is it important to have the attachments of the file numbered?

It is very important for the nominee to take good care of the file and attachments thereto without exaggeration. Good formatting and organization are factors that contribute to understanding the applicant and follow-up of the ideas sequence. Numbering is a factor contributing to easy browsing of the file.

Does the Award prefer specific software for electronic documentation?

The Secretariat General of the Award prefers the most commonly used software on all computers such as PDF and Words, provided that the text files are exclusively in Word format.

Are the criteria of each category fixed or subject to updating every year?

The criteria of each of the Award’s categories are fixed. Amendments to same-if any- are to be announced through the official media and the Award’s website.

How can specimen of the winning works be reviewed or obtained?

The best practices of the winners of all categories are published in a book entitled the “Winners Book”, where the winner mentions the best practices and success stories which qualified him/her to win the Award. The book is available on the Award’s website both in Arabic and English.

Can the works submitted to the Award be retrieved?

All the submitted works become the property of the Award and no participation files are to be returned to the applicants, whether a winner or not. They are placed in the archives of the secretariat General. Therefore; the nominee should keep the originals and submit copies of the works and documents he/she has.

How are the submitted complaints handled?

Each complaint, whatsoever, is handled with due respect and transparency. Each complaint is investigated separately and responded to according to the professional practices.

What are the amounts of the financial rewards for the Award’s categories?

There is only one winner for each category of the Award. The winners of the” Distinguished Innovative Studies and Modern Technology” and “Pioneering Development and Productive Projects” will receive AED 1 Million plus a trophy and a certificate each. The winners of the “ Distinguished Producers in Date Palm Sector and “Pioneering and Sophisticated Innovations Serving the Agricultural Sector ” Influential Figure in the Field of Date Palm and Agricultural Innovation´ will receive AED 750,000 plus a trophy and a certificate each.

Does the Award organize workshops to assist the nominees in the submission process?

The Secretariat General of the Award has a number of communication tools and channels aiming at raising awareness, training, guidance and enabling of all the targeted groups (universities, research centers, governmental bodies and organizations, private companies, civil associations, academics, growers, producers, manufacturers and lovers of agriculture and the blessed tree) to apply to the various categories of the Award and facilitating the procedures for nominees from various countries of the world, of which we can mention:

Award Introduction Program:
The Secretariat General of the Award have organized a number of introductory meetings over the last few years in several countries of the world in cooperation with the UAE Embassies in those countries, such as Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Oman, Kuwait, Kingdom Bahrain, Kingdom of Morocco, Arab Republic of Egypt, Jordan Hashemite Kingdom, Syrian Arab Republic, Republic of Sudan, Algerian Popular Democratic Republic, Italy, UAE …etc. The introductory meetings were attended by diplomats, presidents of international organizations, top officials and social figures in addition to academics, researchers, growers and producers.

Scientific Exhibitions and Conferences:
The Secretariat General of the Award, and over 10 years so far, has been keen to be present at and participate in the various exhibitions and scientific conferences of date palm and agricultural innovation at the local, Arab and international levels. It has allowed the opportunity to all concerned parties universities, research centers, governmental bodies and organizations, private companies, civil associations, academics, growers, producers, manufacturers and lovers of agriculture and the blessed tree) as well as those interested in applying to the Award’s categories, to answer their queries and to provide their requirements.

Publications of the Award:
The Secretariat general of the Award documents the annual harvest of works and achievements, both of the Award and the winners, through a number of deluxe publications (dual, electronic and paper) towards documenting the achievements of both the Award and winners of its various categories to be a success story of the best practices in the field of date palm and agricultural innovation and a cresset to guide the future generations for promotion of development and happiness of man and community according to the goals of UN Sustainable Development 2030.

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