MAKKAH: Saudi Minister of Culture Prince Badr bin Abdullah bin Farhan Al-Saud and Education Minister Yousef Al-Benyan recently presented awards to the winners of the Cultural Skills Competition for school students.
The ceremony, that honored victors in the contest’s six categories, was held at King Abdulaziz University in Jeddah, on Sunday.
The national competition, the first of its kind in the Kingdom, was launched by the two ministries, and included male and female students from primary grades four, five, and six, and secondary and intermediary stages.
Congratulating winners in the heritage, theater, music, visual arts, literature, and film classes, Al-Benyan said that the competition’s cultural courses aimed to encourage creativity and enterprise among school students.
And he praised the renaissance and successes witnessed through Saudi Vision 2030, attributing them to the country’s leaders, “who believe in the importance of building human capabilities, and harnessing all capabilities and resources to prepare future generations.”
Speaking on behalf of Prince Badr, Deputy Minister of Culture Hamed bin Mohammed Fayez said: “Thanks to the support of King Salman, and the empowerment by our inspiring role model Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, we stand today to witness outputs that deserve celebration and appreciation, which are the fruit of joint national efforts aiming at discovering talents that will take our culture and creativity to promising horizons in the near future.”
During the awards ceremony, a video presentation showed the journey of the students during different stages of the competition, which attracted more than 247,000 participants.
The winners of the six categories each received SR100,000 ($27,000), while the second- and third-place winners got SR75,000 and SR50,000, respectively.
The competition was held with the aim of discovering creative students in various cultural fields, empowering them, and developing their skills.
Its six categories take in visual arts, such as plastic and digital arts, Arabic calligraphy, literature including manga and short stories, heritage taking in traditional and folk performing arts, music and singing, short films, and theater.
