Five University of Arkansas at Little Rock students have won awards highlighting their skills in representing Arab countries in international politics.

The student diplomats received awards during the Bilateral Chamber Regional Model Arab League held Feb. 12-13 in Houston.

The Model Arab League is a student leadership development program created by the National Council on US-Arab Relations. It is a simulation of an international organization, the League of Arab States, which has 22 member countries.

The UA Little Rock students who won awards include:

• Distinguished Delegation Award to Faith Herd for her representation of Qatar in the Special Council on Poverty and Unemployment
• Outstanding Delegation Award to Chloe McGehee for her representation of Qatar in the Joint Defense Council.
• Best Chair Award to Caleb Mimms for his leadership of the Council of Arab Social Affairs for Qatar
• Distinguished Delegation Award to Logan Mosley for his representation of Iraq in the Council of Social Affairs
• Distinguished Delegation Award to Yvonne Rodriquez for her representation of Iraq in the Council of Social Affairs

Altogether, 14 UA Little Rock students presented at the Bilateral Chamber Regional Model Arab League. The students and their assignments include:

• Ibraheem Abbood, Special Council on Poverty and Unemployment for Iraq
• Dana Abou-Diab and Isabel Ward, Council of Arab Environmental Affairs Ministers for Iraq
• Armando Arellano, Council of Arab Social Affairs for Iraq
• Owen Haynes, Council on Political Affairs for Iraq
• Alex Martin, Council on Political Affairs for Iraq
• Jack Schlotter, Joint Defense Council for Iraq
• Tripti Shukla, Council on Political Affairs for Qatar
• Lamar Townsend, Council of Arab Environmental Affairs Ministers for Qatar

The UA Little Rock Model Arab League participation is supported by the Middle Eastern Studies program, which subsidizes the student travel and conference participation costs.