Saudi Passport contest concludes with 1,500 children participating

More than 1,500 children participated in the conclusion of the Saudi Passport contest.
Seven contest winners of Saudi Passport and 500 instant prize winners were honored by Princess Noura bint Abdullah, executive president of the Saafa Charity Establishment, in the presence of Princess Adila bint Abdullah and Princess Amal bint Majed on Wednesday at Ann’a Special Mall.
The first prize was won by 8-year-old Yousuef Yasir. Sara, a child with exceptional needs, won second price.
Any child could participate in the contest after obtaining the book Saudi Passport. The children had to provide some information about the places in the Kingdom and submit it by Sept 23.
“It’s a very nice program, and we are very happy that we came up with something different for children to do and celebrate their National day with pride, with such activities and information about their country they will look forward to celebrate their national day every year,” said Princess Noura bint Abdullah.
The contest concluded with celebrations of National Day. The Saudi Products Exhibition was organized under the aegis of Princess Noura bint Abdullah. Thoraya Adil Batarjee, who launched the idea of the competition, told Arab News the aim of the competition was to spread the culture of patriotism among young children.
“The event seeks to develop children’s curiosity and thirst for knowledge and encourage them to read and gather historical, and tourist information, we came up with this creative idea on National Day for children,” Batarjee said. “This idea came two years ago when we started producing a comic book about the birth of Saudi Arabia. It was a great success. So this year we wanted to do something more interactive for children, we came up with the contest of Saudi Passport where they were already provided basic information of different major places in the Kingdom, but the contest was to give us the names of those places which were not included in the passport contest book. Anyone who manage to give us a name of the place which exists in the kingdom but we didn’t mention, he or she will the winner.”
She also said they were surprised with the number of participants and their creativity, where many children sent information on such places which even the organizer didn’t know.
Batterjee said they are proud of Saudi children, who not only participated in the competition but by their enthusiastic participation in the exhibition, making large Saudi flags and celebrating Saudi National day was commendable.
Fatima Al-Ataybee, general manager of Ann’a Special Mall, said they want to give the idea of learning to children and parents while visiting malls. With exhibition’s efforts “they want to spread the idea that malls are not just for shopping.”
“Today’s exhibition is our pride, where we put something unique for children and parents in the mall where they can enjoy Saudi songs, storytelling, Saudi products, cooking for children, art and drawing activities and many more, that they not only enjoy but through which they will learn about Saudi history, culture and tradition,” said Al-Ataybee.
The exhibition was divided in to four sections. One section was for the art lovers organized by Visual Art Club where face painting, sand painting, Saudi art, Saudi artistic products and painting on the biggest Saudi flag were organized.
The other section was organized by Young Chef Academy where children learned cooking and baking.
The third corner was festooned as photographic corner with children dressed in traditional clothes from around the kingdom.