Neha Swaminathan provides tips for compiling files for the prestigious Sheikh Hamdan Award based on her experience applying in previous years. She recommends strictly following the application rules, creating files at home without costly consultants, using first-person in write-ups to emphasize what the candidate has done themselves, keeping videos and presentations under file size limits for easy loading, numbering files according to the application form, and binding individual presentation files into a master slide for easy navigation by reviewers. Neha hopes these tips are helpful for other applicants and wishes everyone a happy compiling process and successful outcome.

1. HH Shk Hamdan Award File compilation tips
19 Sep 2018
Greetings to all,
I am Neha Swaminathan, student of Delhi Private School, Sharjah, presently at Chennai. Many friends have asked me and my
parents seeking guidance on preparing the files for the prestigious Sheikh Hamdan Award. Being away in classes, library and
other activities, often I may not be reachable immediately. So I thought of coming up with a summary. I hope this is of help to
others.
1) Always stick to the rules in the application form. Nothing more, nothing less.
2) All files can be home made, no need for costly consultancy payments.
3) Authorities want to see what “the candidate” has done. Using first person in write-ups is better.
4) I have known many people doing speech in professional studios. I think this is a wasteful expenditure. A picture speaks
louder than words, so we set-up a display on our dining table with winnings and I stayed behind to render my speech. The
video should be in one shot, without edited clips. Recording the speech with a HD recorder helped in clarity but the videos
were always converted to WMV formats to make them lesser in size and readable across multiple platforms.
5) The videos were embedded in the power-point slides. Hyperlinking in the power-point files were avoided, just in case the
hyperlinks malfunctioned at the reviewer’s desk. For this, the size of the videos had to be smaller. We ensured no ppt file was
more than 750 MB, Ideally should be less than 500 MB. This is only to help load the file in computer RAM without too much
delay.

2. HH Shk Hamdan Award File compilation tips
6) The numbering of the pictures and videos followed the nomination form classification with a suffix. In the ppt files, the
photos and videos were numbered, clearly marking the videos so that the reader knows if the file take a few seconds to load
into the reader’s computer.
7) Finally all the individual PowerPoint (pptx) files were saved back as PowerPoint shows (ppsx) files. These PowerPoint show
files were bound together in a Master slide and hyperlinked to the respective ppsx files. This helped the reader to open a
single Power-Point page and reach the entire gamut of nomination form, write-ups, photos, videos etc. with mouse clicks and
whenever each chapter is completed the reader will be returned back to the master slide.
With the large number of applications at the Education Zone, the files have to be easily readable and have to be brief and
exactly to the requirements. And finally with so many well performing students, the ones who lost out by a whisker are not in
any way less capable.
The applicants who have put in hard work are all great achievers and I definitely learnt over the years that the process is more
important than the outcome. And in this respect, the process drivers over the years have been parents and all teachers. One
stays always indebted to them. I am still a day dreamer, believing to be at school and reliving the enjoyable moments.
Wishing all a happy compiling and a successful outcome.
Warm regards to all,
Neha