Looking for the perfect date?

Many people here are; and indeed go to great lengths for it. Even though one should be wondering why this should be an issue at all. I mean, this multinational place is just THE country for any date you could possibly imagine, from the worst to the best. If you just take a moment to look around here... Dates are literally growing on trees: There are an estimated 40 million date palms across the UAE.

So it's not surprising that Arab researchers submitted a third of the applications for the Khalifa International Date Palm Awards to be presented soon in Abu Dhabi. Said one Professor Abdelwahab Zaid from the award committee in today's edition of the English paper 'The National': "The award is aimed at establishing the UAE's leading role in the cultivation of this valuable tree and the development of date palm research worldwide."

If you consider how important Phoenix dactylifera traditionally was and to some degree still is - as a provider of fruit as well as of all sorts of material for building and other purposes - it is understandable that such a campaign is considered so worthy that the award was launched under the leadership of President His Highness Shaikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan in 2008.

If anybody really wants to know - the awards cover three categories: best research/study, distinguished producers and distinguished figure in the date production industry. The winners will share cash prizes totalling Dh 2.1 million ($571,700).