Prince Khaled announces winners of Souk Okaz Prizes

Prince Khaled Al-Faisal, emir of Makkah and adviser to Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, announced here on Monday winners of the 10th edition of the annual Souk Okaz Prizes for the year 2016.

Muhammad Mahmoud Al-Azzam of Jordan has won this year’s Souk Okaz Poet prize while Khulaif Bin Ghaleb Al-Shamri of Saudi Arabia bagged the Okaz Young Poet prize.

The prize for fiction, which was introduced for the first time this year, went to famous Saudi novelist Maqbul Mousa Al-Alawi.

Abdul Baqi Abu Bakr from Malaysia won the first position in Arabic calligraphy while Abdurahman Ibrahim Al-Majed of Bahrain bagged the prize in digital photography.

Luay Muhammad Naseeb of Saudi Arabia secured the prize in entrepreneurship, which was introduced for the first time, while Muhammad Basalama won the prize in innovation.

Prince Khaled, who is also chairman of the supervising committee of Souk Okaz Festival, announced this in a press conference at his office in Jeddah.

He said that the winners were chosen from among 558 contestants from 20 countries, and that the value of prize money has been raised to SR1.7 million. The prizes will be distributed at the annual Souk Okaz Festival. The emir also announced the establishment of an integrated city for Souk Okaz.

The function was also attended by Prince Sultan Bin Salman, president of the Saudi Commission for Tourism and National Heritage, Minister of Education Ahmed Al-Isa, and several other officials.

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