The Board of Trustees of the Sharjah Excellence Award, during its last meeting hosted by the Sharjah Chamber of Commerce and Industry, recently unveiled a series of significant changes and amendments to the award, in line with international best practices in business excellence. The new decisions unanimously adopted included changing the name of the Sharjah Economic Excellence Award to the Sharjah Excellence Award and changing the name of Sharjah Award for Emerging Projects in the United Arab Emirates to the Sharjah Small and Medium Enterprises Award and separate it into two categories, each of which includes two winners. These two categories include one for the micro projects with 5 employees or less and the other for small and medium-sized enterprises with more than 5 staff members. As per the new amendments participation in the Sharjah award will be open for entrepreneurs of all emirates of the UAE and to reduce the participation fees. The members of the Board of Trustees agreed to simplify the process of participation in the award and facilitate its procedures in all categories, especially in the Sharjah Award for Sharjah Gulf Nationalization and the Sharjah Award for Gulf Excellence. The Board of Trustees of the Award adopted a number of coordination procedures in cooperation with the GCC Chambers of Commerce to stimulate participation by private sector companies in the GCC countries, especially in the Sharjah Gulf Nationalization Awards and the Sharjah Gulf Excellence Award. The Board of Trustees also approved the launch of a large promotional campaign aimed at introducing the award and its various categories in order to encourage companies to participate and benefit from the excellence journey offered by the award. Abdullah bin Sultan Al Owais, Chairman of the Sharjah Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said that these important decisions came after 5 intensified meetings as we were keen to take into consideration the private sector visions and suggestions and balance between these recommendations and the best international practices in this respect. The Sharjah Excellence Award includes seven categories, namely: Sharjah Award for excellence, the Sharjah Gulf Excellence Award, Sharjah green award, Sharjah Award for small and medium-sized enterprises, the Sharjah Award for social responsibility, Sharjah Award for entrepreneurs, and the Sharjah Award for Gulf Nationalization.