Dubai AI Week hosts second Global Prompt Engineering Championship

Competition returns with new video category, bringing together creative talent from across 13 countries

AI Week. Day 2. Global Prompt Engineering Championship 2025. Antonie Robertson/The National

The second Global Prompt Engineering Championship is under way in Dubai, bringing together top talent from around the world to compete for a Dh1 million ($272,290) prize pool.

Organised by the Dubai Future Foundation and the Dubai Centre for Artificial Intelligence, the event is taking place on the sidelines of Dubai AI Week – a major platform showcasing the UAE’s growing influence in AI.

This year’s championship has drawn participants from the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Syria, Palestine, Brazil, South Africa, Jordan, Egypt, Kuwait, Russia, Pakistan and India. The two-day competition, which began on Tuesday, highlights the global rise of prompt engineering – a skillset focused on crafting effective instructions for AI systems to generate precise, creative and context-aware outputs.

In addition to the coding, literature and art categories from the inaugural competition, this year introduced a new video category, reflecting the increasing role of generative AI in multimedia content creation.

Global Prompt Engineering Championship is being held during Dubai AI Week. Antonie Robertson / The National

“Choosing video was an interesting one given how revolutionary AI has been with video generation over the past year,” Hamad Al Shirawi, director of Dubai AI Week, told The National.

He said it was inspiring to observe how participants handled the pressure of the competition. “It’s really nice to be around them and see how each one of them is actually putting in their prompts in a very limited time, [it is] very stressful, being evaluated by these judges, actually producing meaningful outcomes – not just something that you and I can do quickly using one of the platforms,” he added.

“The championship is one of the activities that really looks at talent. It focuses on enabling the ecosystem and amplifying the opportunity. This only elevates, puts Dubai on the map and solidifies our position, but also attracts all these global names."

Sufyan Al Hussein, a filmmaker competing in the art category, said the first round tested participants with an unexpected creative challenge.

The championship 'really looks at talent', the Dubai AI Week director has said. Antonie Robertson / The National

“It was about creating an illusion and limiting us to only three colours – red, green and black. It was challenging, to be honest, but we tried to make it as artistic as possible,” he told The National.

“I do use AI sometimes, for example, when I want to generate my mood boards, my storyboards,” he said, adding that his knowledge of art history, from Rococo to De Stijl, helped to guide his approach.

He said the registration process was simple and accessible. “You sign up, you do a test, or I would say like a challenge, you submit it and then you wait,” he said.

As he awaited the results of the second round, he remained hopeful. “I think the second prompt will be easier because there is nothing harder than this. It was very hard, but I think we’re doing amazing,” he said.

“I never thought of like winning the money itself. Maybe I want to feed my ego ... but I would reinvest it maybe also in some sort of AI service.”

The championship is one of several anchor events during Dubai AI Week, an event that brings together government leaders, tech executives, researchers and creators to explore the future of AI.

"This week is a culmination of our efforts ... bringing all of these events together gives more of a purpose, more of a well-rounded opportunity for people both based in Dubai and abroad to focus and capitalise on this week,” Mr Al Shirawi said.

An AI-enabled VR headset on show at the Excelledia stand at the Museum of The Future in Dubai. Antonie Robertson / The National

Other events taking place include the AI Retreat, the Dubai Assembly for Generative AI, the Dubai AI Festival and the Machines Can See summit. The week also features a school programme to engage 50 institutions across the UAE in AI-focused activities.

The UAE, ranked among the top five countries globally for AI competitiveness, continues to build on its 2017 national AI strategy by investing in talent and creating platforms that encourage collaboration and innovation. The Global Prompt Engineering Championship exemplifies that mission – merging creativity, competition and cutting-edge technology to shape the next generation of AI leaders.