ITP Publisher announced Sunday its plan to launch the Arab Woman Awards for Saudi Arabia (AWA-KSA 2014) in January 2014 at Al-Faisaliah Hotel in the Saudi capital to recognize the achievements of Saudi women.

In a press statement, the publishing group said that the first AWA-KSA 2014 event will be held under the aegis of Princess Reema bint Bandar Al-Saud to honor Saudi women achievers.

Launched in 2009, AWA aims to provide a platform to raise public awareness of the significant achievements made by Arab women. Following the success of the Arab Woman Awards UAE, Qatar and Kuwait in the past five years, the organizers have decided to create AWA-KSA 2014.

Since its inception, AWA has recognized over 170 accomplished women in the region across various industries, including business, education, art, literature, fashion, health, humanitarian work, entrepreneurship and other domains.

Sue Holt, ITP consumer deputy managing director, founded AWA after she came across many inspiring stories and achievements of talented Arab women.

“The launch of the AWA-KSA 2014 is another exciting chapter in these awards. Having visited the Kingdom for the first time recently, I have already met highly educated, determined and successful women. I am looking forward to working with the judges to showcase the wealth of talented women that Saudi Arabia has to offer,” said Holt.

A board of judges selects the winners of the award based on a criteria list outlined by ITP. The judges must all be natives of the award winners’ country.

The general criteria set by the publishing group includes the contribution that the winner has made to the country and the advancements in their particular field in the past 12 months.

The judging process takes place over a two-month period.

The KSA panel will be meeting during the first week of January in Riyadh to discuss and select the final award winners who will be honored later that month.