Hamdan bin Mohammed honours winners of the Global Prompt Engineering Championship 2025 during Dubai AI Week
'Dubai was among the first cities to invest in AI capabilities and enablers, and today, it continues to accelerate adoption and strengthen its position as a global hub for AI talent'
Championship attracts more than 3,800 entries from 125 countries, with 24 finalists from 16 countries selected to compete live in Dubai
His Highness Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Defence, and Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Dubai Future Foundation, today honoured the winners of the Global Prompt Engineering Championship 2025 during Dubai AI Week. The winners were recognised across four creative categories including Art, Video, Gaming, and Coding. HH Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum said: 'Artificial intelligence is giving rise to entirely new disciplines and professions, one of the most prominent being prompt engineering, which has quickly become a widely sought-after skill. During the Global Prompt Engineering Championship, we witnessed how AI will shape the future of creative and technological sectors.' His Highness added: 'Shaping the future of AI begins with empowering talent and providing them with the tools and skills to innovate, create, and expand its real-world applications for the benefit of humanity. Dubai was among the first cities to invest in AI capabilities and enablers, and today, it continues to accelerate adoption and strengthen its position as a global hub for AI talent. We remain committed to fostering a dynamic and integrated ecosystem that supports AI-driven innovation, advances development, and benefits humanity.' 'The intersection of art, reasoning, and AI in this competition represents the kind of culture-forward innovation Dubai is proud to champion,' His Highness noted. The awarding ceremony was attended by Her Highness Sheikha Latifa bint Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Chairperson of Dubai Culture and Arts Authority; His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum; and His Excellency Omar Sultan Al Olama, Minister of State for Artificial Intelligence, Digital Economy, and Remote Work Applications, and Deputy Managing Director of the Dubai Future Foundation.
Winners Abdulrahman Al Marzooqi from the UAE, a master's student in Machine Learning at the Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence (MBZUAI), won first place in the Coding category. The Video category award went to Syrian filmmaker Ibrahim Hajjo, Senior Filmmaker at Hajjo Media. In the Gaming category, the winner was Ibrahim Helmy from Canada, Senior Cloud Solutions Architect (Data & AI) at Microsoft. The Art category was won by Yahya Kaddoura from Palestine, an Architectural Designer and Associate Principal at Atkins. The championship finals were held over two days at AREA 2071 in Emirates Towers. The winners received a share of the AED1 million prize pool, along with international recognition and exposure to industry leaders. Organised by the Dubai Centre for Artificial Intelligence, an initiative of the Dubai Future Foundation, and supported by the Dubai Chamber of Digital Economy, this year's championship attracted more than 3,800 entries from 125 countries, with 24 finalists from 16 countries selected to compete live in Dubai. Now in its second edition, the championship served as a key pillar of the inaugural Dubai AI Week, held under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed.
Final Challenges: Creativity Meets Capability Finalists were challenged to create original, high-quality outputs using advanced generative AI tools, guided by precise, creative, and time-bound prompts. Each finalist competed under pressure in a real-time prompt challenge designed to test their ingenuity and prompt-crafting skill. Finalists in the Art category were challenged to interpret the theme 'Time Travel in Two Frames' by creating two images of the same object or place set in different time periods—juxtaposing eras while maintaining a shared visual identity. In the Video category, participants were tasked with producing a 15–20 second cinematic scene inspired by wildlife documentaries, featuring an animal in an entirely unexpected yet realistic setting—blending authenticity with surrealism. In the Gaming category, themed 'One Minute Hero', finalists were challenged to develop a game in which players have just 60 seconds to save the world. Every run is unique, and the game subtly adapts to previous attempts. Meanwhile, finalists in the Coding category were tasked with creating an AI-powered emergency response assistant—an intuitive app designed to provide calm, accurate, real-time support during crises in Dubai, ranging from medical emergencies to lost travel documents.
Distinguished Judging Panel The judging panel for the Global Prompt Engineering Championship 2025 featured a distinguished group of experts including Giuseppe Moscatello, Founder of Evolve - Co-founder of Foundry Downtown; Ayesha Alhamrani, Founder of Ayesha Alhamrani Design & Artwork Services; Mohammed Khodr, AI GTM Lead Middle East Turkey & Africa in Google; Hana Kazim, Producer at Wiswas; and Hesham Alolama, Director of Strategy and Performance at Dubai Media Council. Also on the panel were Adi Morun, Director of Data and AI for CEMA (Microsoft Central East Europe, Middle East, and Africa); Maitha Alblooshi, Event Manager at Dubai Culture; Rashed Alawar, Game Developer at Dubai Police; Michael Bradbury, Director of Education at The Centre for Entertainment Arts (CEA); Paul Maddox, Director of Application Innovation for CEMA (Microsoft Central East Europe, Middle East, and Africa); Ashok Gelal, CEO- Co-Founder of CloudStack; and Mohamed Almansoori, CTO at Transcend Technologies.
Global Platform for Next-Gen AI Talent The Global Prompt Engineering Championship continues to grow as a premier international event spotlighting the rise of prompt engineering and its role in shaping the future of generative AI. As part of Dubai AI Week, the championship supports Dubai's ambition to become a global hub for inclusive, ethical, and forward-thinking AI innovation. Dubai AI Week is hosting participants from over 100 nationalities, featuring more than 180 speakers, more than 150 sessions and workshops, and over 140 activities. Taking place from 21–25 April 2025, the event brings together global thought leaders from startups, corporates, governments, and academia to shape the future of artificial intelligence. For more information on the events and activities, please visit: https://week.dub.ai
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