The third edition of the “Colors of Saudi Forum” will be held this year at the Riyadh International Convention and Exhibition Center (RICEC) from Dec. 14 to 20 with the aim of promoting domestic tourism.

The photography forum, initially launched in 2012, is organized annually by the Saudi Commission for Tourism and Antiquities (SCTA) in collaboration with its partners to encourage and honor both professional and amateur photographers in an attempt to shed light on the Kingdom’s tourism, heritage and natural sites, rich and diverse society and urban progress.

The forum includes a national photography exhibition in addition to an award ceremony to honor the winners of the Prince Sultan bin Salman award for Photography and the winners of Saudi Colors competition for photography and short films, besides conducting several workshops and training courses on the themes of the forum.

“Preparations for the third edition of the Colors of Saudi Forum 2014 under the aegis of SCTA President Prince Sultan bin Salman have been completed,” a top official at the tourism commission headquarters said Wednesday, adding that this year, they had been granted a wider space for holding the competition.

Hamad bin Abdul Aziz Al-Sheikh, SCTA vice president for marketing and programs, said that the SCTA attaches much importance to the coinciding of this event with the start of the King Abdullah Heritage Initiative, which aims to achieve maximum awareness of the preservation of the components of the national heritage of the Kingdom, making it an integral part of people’s memory and daily life.

He said that this year, new awards have been constituted. They are a smartphone photography award and a special award dedicated to GCC citizens and other countries who have exclusive photo collections on the Kingdom.

He added that the forum’s patron had ordered the value of the award to be raised to over SR1 million, making it one of the most prestigious photography awards in the Kingdom aimed at employing photography for increasing awareness of domestic tourism, besides short films competition with a major focus on tourism.

A number of public and private bodies are scheduled to take part in the forum. Apart from that photography clubs and groups, artistic production companies, and individual photographers will participate with photo galleries on the Kingdom, besides featuring other activities under four themes, covering tourism experience, urban heritage and antiquities, popular heritage and Saudi culture.

A special pavilion has been set aside this time for international participants including photographers, diplomats, embassies of friendly countries, who will participate with photos of the Kingdom.

The deadline for the submission of photos for the award ended last week with 1,700 participants in different categories, an increase of 50 percent compared to the total entries last year.

Over 5,000 photos have entered the competition this year. The photo-sorting committees are preparing photos for the jury which is composed of 12 national and international experts.

Each theme in the award will be sorted and evaluated by a separate committee consisting of experts specialized in the theme.

Winners of the award will be announced and honored during the opening ceremony of the Colors forum.

Additionally, the forum will publish a special book containing the photos that have reached the final stage of the competition and each competitor will receive a complimentary copy of the book while the rest of the photos will be made available to the visitors of the forum.