Several princes, senior officials and academics, in addition to more than 2,000 boy and girl students from various regions of the Makkah province will be present.

Sultan Al-Dosary, director general of studies and public relations at the Makkah governorate, told Arab News that the governor would give away prizes to the winners of the month-long final round of competitions that kicked off in the first week of April.

“Students from various regions of Makkah, including winners in the competitions, will stage a wide variety of cultural programs at the concluding ceremony. The event will also provide a unique opportunity for interaction among students from different parts of the province,” he said.

Al-Dosary noted that the forum has been proved a resounding success in discovering the talent of the younger generation in the province as well as developing in them a culture to utilize their free time for constructive activities.

“There is no doubt that this forum contributed substantially in developing talents and skills as well as innovative capabilities of the youth,” he said, adding two talented students from the province were able to win prizes in the global innovation competitions held last year.

As many as 300,000 intermediate and secondary school students from 11 regions of the province participated in the preliminary round of local-level competitions. Among them, 800 talented boy and girl students qualified for the final round of competitions held in Jeddah.

Competitions venues included Jeddah sports stadium, King Abdulaziz University, King Fahd Coastal City, Youth Welfare Presidency Hall, Markaz Abraq Al-Rugama, and Jeddah Corniche. In the final round, there were 20 competitions in the fields of culture, education, science, tourism, recreation and sports. These included Qur’an recitation and memorization, poetry, innovation, solo performance, photography, painting, graffiti, football, basketball, and table tennis.

Ten boys and four girls from Makkah have bagged first prizes in secondary and intermediate school categories. Al-Laith stood second with four winners while Jeddah had three winners, in addition to one winner each from Taif, Qunfuda, and Khulais regions.

Prince Khaled formally launched the final round of competitions on March 27, during which he honored organizers and sponsors of the event.

The Makkah governorate is organizing the forum for the second year in a row with the objective of developing the skills of Saudi youths and boosting their cultural and sporting capabilities.

The governorate organized the first forum in April 2011 and it received very good participation and tremendous support from various departments and agencies in both the government and private sectors.

They included the Ministry of Education, Youth Welfare Presidency, Saudi Commission for Tourism & Antiquities (SCTA), as well as various municipalities, chambers of commerce and industry, and universities in the province.