The Sultan Qaboos Higher Centre for Culture and Science on Wednesday unveiled the names of winners of the 9th edition of the Sultan Qaboos Award for Culture, Arts and Literature. This year’s prize was made exclusive to Omanis only and it researched Omani heritage, notably the areas of culture, theatre and essay writing.
The winners were announced at a press conference here by Habib bin Mohammed al Riyami, Secretary-General of the Sultan Qaboos Higher Centre for Culture and Science.
In the field of investigating Omani heritage, the award was won by Harith bin Mohammed al Battashi for his analysis of a book titled “Introduction to Rules of Faith and Restricting the Swings of Judgment and Religions”, originally authored by Shaikh Said bin Khalfan al Khalili.
The troupe of “Al Dann” bagged the prize for theatrical performances — credit to its drama titled “Qarn Al Jaria”, while Dr Mona al Sulaimi won the award for essay writing.
Al Riyami said that as many as 96 contestants met the conditions of candidacy; 11 in the field of investigating Omani heritage, 12 in drama performances and 73 in the field of essay writing.
The Sultan Qaboos Award for Culture, Arts and Literature is a biennial prize, contested by Omani candidates one year and by all Arabs the next edition.
The Sultan Qaboos Award for Culture, Arts and Literature was established in 2011 by late Sultan Qaboos.
Speaking to the Observer, Al Riyami said the response to this year’s award had been overwhelming, and various subcommittees were formed to adjudicate the winners.
“Sultan Qaboos Award for Culture, Arts and Literature is the result of Royal thought towards intellectual and cognitive accomplishment, underlining the historical role of the Sultanate of Oman as a peace-loving nation and its interest in cultural awareness as the most important link in peace progress of civilisation of mankind, supporting glorious intellectuals, artists and writers,” Al Riyami said.
The broad categories for this year’s award were — Culture (Omani Heritage), Arts (Theatrical Troupes), and Literature (Articles).
Each winner will receive a citation and RO 50,000 for excellence in their chosen field.
Consolidation of accumulated knowledge process, instilling authentic values and passing it to the younger generations are the motto of the award which was announced under the auspices of Habib bin Mohammed al Riyami.
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