Under the patronage of His Royal Highness Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Crown Prince and Deputy Prime Minister - may ,d protect him -, the Ministry of Culture is organizing the final ceremony of the "National Cultural Awards" initiative on Friday, September 9, to announce the winners of the awards in the second session; This is to celebrate the cultural achievements and productions of individuals, groups and institutions in various cultural sectors.

His Highness Prince Badr bin Abdullah bin Farhan, Minister of Culture, valued the generous patronage of His Highness the Crown Prince for this cultural event in which cultural creators in the Kingdom, both pioneers and youth, are honored, stressing that the generous patronage is a culmination for the nation's intellectuals, and an indication of the appreciation, attention and care that culture receives from the wise leadership, in light of the Saudi Vision 2030 which raised the value of culture and gave it its high status as one of the components of quality of life, and one of the main elements forming national identity.

His Highness the Minister of Culture expressed thanks and gratitude to the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques and His Highness the Crown Prince - may ,d protect them - for the continuous and unprecedented support for the culture sector in all regions of the Kingdom and across various creative paths.

The final ceremony comes to honor the winners of the initiative's awards which cover the cultural space in its various sectors and orientations, including 14 cultural awards, namely: Cultural Personality of the Year, Culture for Youth, Literature Award, Publishing Award, Translation Award, Fashion Award, Film Award, National Heritage Award, Music Award, Visual Arts Award, Theater and Performing Arts Award, Culinary Arts Award, Architecture and Design Arts Award, and Cultural Institutions Award divided into three paths: the path of large and emerging cultural institutions from the ,vernment sector, the path of large and emerging cultural institutions from the private sector, and the path of non-profit cultural institutions.

The initiative in its second session went through multiple stages, starting with the announcement of the start of the work of the second session in July 2021, then the nomination stage which received the names of candidates in December 2021, followed by the sorting stage during which the process of sorting the submitted nominations was carried out in March 2022 and an initial decision was made regarding the candidates who met the conditions; to complete the registration form, and provide the committee with their works and achievements in the cultural sector. The participation filtering stage followed in April through a committee of experts and specialists from various fields and scientific, practical and artistic backgrounds; to choose the best participations, to move after that to the final stage for approval by the CEOs of the cultural commissions, then the judging committee formed by the Ministry of Culture began judging the works during May and June 2022 AD, and choosing the winners of the awards.

The first session held last year witnessed the honoring of the writer Sheikh Muhammad Al-Aboudi - may ,d have mercy on him - with the Cultural Personality of the Year award, and the filmmaker Shahad Ameen in the Culture for Youth award, in addition to the winners in the rest of the award branches of creators and intellectuals in various cultural sectors alongside ,vernment, private and non-profit cultural entities.

It is worth mentioning that the Ministry of Culture launched the "National Cultural Awards" initiative, one of the initiatives of the National Strategy for Culture aimed at honoring the pioneers of the cultural sector, and creators in various paths of cultural activity in the Kingdom, and appreciating their efforts in serving culture across different generations, and encouraging cultural content for 16 cultural sectors, in addition to supporting the cultural production of the winners, and celebrating it in the media and society, and motivating the ,vernment and private sector and non-profit institutions to adopt and develop cultural talents.

( Source: SPA)