What happened
Gulf News announced the result under the headline "Sudanese girl Hadeel Anwar Al Zubair wins Arab Reading Challenge", and The National reported the same evening that a Sudanese teenager had been named champion in Dubai. The competition is the largest reading contest in the Arab world, running through schools across dozens of countries and ending in a final judged live in Dubai.
The number attached to her name, 766 books, is the figure the coverage led with. It is a year's reading recorded and summarised for the competition, not a casual estimate, since the challenge requires pupils to log and defend what they have read as they progress through the rounds.
The pledge
On 14 November 2019 Gulf News reported the part of the story that travelled furthest: the winner intended to build a library with the prize money. For a 13-year-old handed Dh500,000, roughly the cost of a family flat, the decision to convert it into public shelving in her own city was the detail that turned a competition result into a news story across the region.
The research record adds the family context published at the time: she was an only child, the daughter of Sanaa Al Toum and Anwar Al Zubair, a general in the Sudanese Army.
What the challenge is
The Arab Reading Challenge was created by the government of Dubai and is run at a scale that has no real equivalent elsewhere. Pupils read across the school year, write summaries, and are examined in successive rounds on comprehension and argument. Champions are crowned in an opera house by the ruler of Dubai.
By 2024, Khaleej Times reported the eighth edition drawing 28.2 million participants from 229,620 schools across 50 countries. The edition Hadeel won, the fourth, sits at an earlier point on that curve, when the competition was already regional and the prize already life-changing.
What is documented, and what is not
Firmly established: the win, the year, her age of 13, the figure of 766 books, the Dh500,000 prize and the stated intention to build a library. Not established in the sources read here: whether the library was built, where it stands, or what became of the money.
Sudan entered a war in 2023 that has damaged Khartoum extensively, and no source gathered for this page records what happened to the project or to her family afterwards. This page will not speculate about either. Her date of birth is not stated in these sources; the birth year of 2006 is derived from her age in 2019.
Why the promise mattered
Large prizes for children usually produce a photograph and a savings account. A public promise to build something is different, because it is checkable, and because it reframes the prize as a civic act rather than a windfall.
That is the durable part of this record: a 13-year-old reader from Khartoum who won the biggest reading competition in the Arab world and immediately described the money as a library. What the sources cannot yet tell us is how that ended, and this page says so plainly rather than inventing a conclusion.
| Person | Country | Milestone | Age / Stat |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hatem Al Turkawi | Syria | Being crowned an Arab Reading Challenge champion in 2024 | Age 9 |
| Kady Bint Misfer | Saudi Arabia | Being crowned an Arab Reading Challenge champion in 2024 | Age 11 |
| Hadeel Anwar Al Zubair | Sudan | Winning the fourth Arab Reading Challenge | Age 13 |
| Afaf Raed Sherif | Palestine | Winning the second Arab Reading Challenge | Age 17 |
| Salsabil Sawalha | Palestine | Being crowned an Arab Reading Challenge champion in 2024 | Age 17 |
What is documented — and what is not
✓ Documented
- She won the fourth Arab Reading Challenge in Dubai in 2019 at 13 (Gulf News, The National)
- She read 766 books for the competition
- The individual prize was Dh500,000
- She told Gulf News she planned to build a library in Khartoum
? Unverified, disputed or wrong
- No source read states her date of birth
- No source records whether the library was built
- Nothing documents her life after 2019
- The family details come from the research record's summary of Gulf News rather than a page read in full
Questions people ask about Hadeel Anwar Al Zubair
How many books did Hadeel Al Zubair read?
766, the figure reported in the coverage of her win.
How old was she when she won?
Thirteen, and in grade seven in Khartoum. No source read here gives her date of birth.
How much did she win?
Dh500,000, the Arab Reading Challenge's individual champion prize.
What did she plan to do with the money?
Build a library in Khartoum, as Gulf News reported on 14 November 2019.
Who are her parents?
The research record names them as Sanaa Al Toum and Anwar Al Zubair, a general in the Sudanese Army, and describes her as an only child.
Was the library built?
No source gathered for this page records the outcome of the project.
Is Hadeel Al Zubair on Wikipedia?
The research record found no standalone Wikipedia article about her.
Quick quiz: how well do you know Hadeel’s story?
How many books did Hadeel Al Zubair read for the challenge?
What did she say she would do with the prize?
Which edition of the Arab Reading Challenge did she win?
Sources
- Sudanese girl Hadeel Anwar Al Zubair wins Arab Reading Challenge — Gulf News, 2019-11
- Arab Reading Challenge winner Hadeel Anwar Al Zubair plans to build library with prize money — Gulf News, 2019-11-14
- Sudanese teen named Arab Reading Challenge champion in Dubai — The National, 2019-11
- UAE: 3 students win Dh500,000 prize each in Arab Reading Challenge — Khaleej Times, 2024-10-23
Checked by the Geniuses.club editorial team. Ages are given as of September 2026.
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