Shafaq News/ The head of the Rwanga Foundation, Abdul Salam Madani, said in a speech during the Rwanga awards festival today, that a nation that does not take care of its youth is committing "suicide".

Madani said, "After April 2003, we thought our problem was one person", adding, "The problem cannot be solved with the same mentality."

The foundation chose, according to Madani, "youth" as a main theme in its approach, noting that the festival's awards are considered a platform to give hope to youth.

The annual Rwanga Foundation Awards festival has begun at the National Theater in Baghdad, sponsored by Shafaq News Agency.

The festival is attended by the Minister of Youth and Sports, Baghdad's deputy commissioner, the Special Representative for the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq, a representative of the Syndicate of Artists, in addition to many officials and artists.

The Rwanga Awards is an annual project of Rwanga Foundation. With the goal of improving and fostering the potential of the youth, Rwanga Awards strives to discover talents, to strengthen confidence and to collect all types of artistic, literary, and scientific projects created and developed throughout Iraq by the youths aged between 15 and 25 years. The categories are: Arabic Short Story, Kurdish Short Story, Short Film, Recycled Art, Scientific Innovation, Entrepreneurship, Solo Musician, Photography, Drawing, Kurdish Poetry, Arabic Poetry, and Software Development.

The Rwanga Awards officially started in 2014 and ever since the final ceremony was taking place in different governorates in Iraq such as Erbil, Sulaimani, and Duhok. For this year, Rwanga Awards final ceremony will be held in Baghdad in the National Theater.

Throughout the six previous years of the project, 59 young people were awarded as the first place winners. This year, 12 more youth will be awarded.

The nominees for the Rwanga Awards 2021 are:

Entrepreneurship:

Amir Star Mohammed

Huda Hasan Rasul

Shewa Abubakr Ali

Scientific Innovation

Ahmed Jahfer Mawloud

Diyar Dilshad Hamza

Salh Mahdi Salh

Software Development

Zyad Asaad Muhammed

Araz Ibrahim Saeed

Darvan Shvan Khairulddin

Kurdish Short Story

Bana Mahmoud Muhammed-Zyad

Othman Hussien Yousif

Nazila Peshraw Hussen

Arabic Short Story

· Anat Dhurgham Abdulhameed

· Silav Hasan Muhammed

· Hiraa Musa Abdulamer

Kurdish Poetry

Shaho Salah Salih

Alan Sherko Hussein

Chrakhan Kakakhan Sharef

Arabic Poetry

· Mustafa Husam Husien

· Ali Salm Khalil

· Safa Hamid Husien

Drawing

Reem Zaki Abdulsada

Ali Khalid Hury

Padasht Khalil Khalid

Recycled Art

Ferdaws Ali Muhammad

Mahmoud Haydar Ahmed

Karar Jabr Burhan

Solo Musician

Barin Ardalan Ainalddin

Danar Hogr Abubakr

Rozhyar Luqman Majeed

Short Film

Hunar Nawzad Nuri

Safa Muhammed Hisham

Sarhat Nariman Khamo

Photography

Haidar Muhammed Hashim

Aras Mahmood Aziz

Ali Muhammed Kadhim

The winners for each category will be awarded:

First-place Winner: $2000 + Trophy of the project

Second-place Winner: $1500

Third-place Winner: $1000

The nominees were selected by a specialized evaluation committee for each category, the jury members for the Rwanga Awards 2021 were:

Kurdish Short Story (Mardin Ibrahim Hamad - Poet and Novelist, Hakeem Abdullah Mohammed – Author)

Arabic Short Story (Alyaa Alansari - Novelist and Exective Director at Bint Alrafidain Organization, Ahmed Aljndel - Novelist and Critic)

Drawing (Sahar Jabbar – Painter , Huda Ahmed Sabri – Artist)

Photography (Jamal Penjwene - Head of the Visual Media Department at the Iraqi Prime Minister's Office, Thaier Alsudani - Chief Photographer at REUTERS)

Short film (Shurooq Alhasan – Actress, Kamiran Betasi - Film Director)

Scientific Innovation (Dr.Salah Abdal Azzo - Assistant Professor, Dr.Salih Mustafa Atrushey - Assistant Professor)

Entrepreneurship (Ammar Al-Khatib - Executive Director at The Station Foundation, Waleed Mustafa Khalid - Deputy General Manager of Darin Group)

Recycled Art (Firas Jalo – Artist, Dr.Rezan Omer Rashid - PHD in Enviromental Pollution)

Solo Musician (Dr.Jange Jalal Hasan – PHD in Music, Dr.Ali Mshari - Head of Musical Arts Department at the University of Basrah)

Kurdish Poetry (Rozh Halabjaye – Poet, Ismael Hajani - Poet and Author)

Arabic Poetry (Ali wajeeh Abbas - Author and Journalist, Dr.Salama Alsalhi - Poet and Author)

Software Development (Amanj Ali – Founder of Avesta Company, Dr. Nawzad Kameran Salayi - Head of Outreach and Capacity Building, Department of Information Technology of KRG)