Shafaq News/ Rwanga announced the winners of the foundation's 2022 awards in a ceremony held in the Kurdistan region's capital city, Erbil, on Friday.
The Rwanga (Kurdish for vision) 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 youth aged between 15 and 25 years. The categories are Kurdish Short Story, Arabic Short Story, Short Film, Recycled Art, Scientific Innovation, Entrepreneurship, Solo Musician, Photography, Drawing, Kurdish Poetry, Arabic Poetry, and Software Development."
Attended by the head of the foundation Idris Nechirvan Barzani, the Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General for Iraq Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, and a group of artists and senior politicians, the ceremony featured the announcement of the names of the top three contestants in ten categories.
The nominees were selected by a specialized evaluation committee for each category, the jury members for the Rwanga Awards 2022 were:
Kurdish Short Story (Fadhil Omer – Writer, Bushra Kasnazani - Writer and University Lecturer, Goran Rasool - Poet and Story Writer)
Arabic Short Story (Jutyar Tamar - Writer and Academic Researcher, Abdulkareem Alkailani - Poet and Author, Alyaa Alansari - Writer and Novelist)
Drawing (Dr. Rebwar Saieed - Assistant Professor, Hiwa Abdulaziz - University Lecturer, Rowaida Husen – Teacher)
Photography (Jamal Penjwene - Head of the Visual Media Department at the Kurdistan Region Presidency Office, Thaier Alsudani - Senior Photographer in Reuters, Khanda Sarchl Majeed – Photographer)
Short film (Ranj Mustafa – Director, Shurooq Alhasan - Actress and Director, Kamiran Betasi – Director)
Scientific Innovation (Dr. Hemn Latif - Lecturer and Entrepreneur, Muhammed Alazawi – Engineer, Dr. Bayz Khurshid - Former University Lecturer)
Entrepreneurship (Yousif Al-Alousi - Executive Manager at Noor Ala Noor Organization, Gillian Harshami - Entrepreneurial Advisor, Dr. Saba AghalehRecycled Art - CEO and Founder of Saba Holding)
Recycled Art (Dr. Zhino Khalid Muhammed - Lecturer at the University of Sulaimani, Marwah Raed Alnoaime - Founder of Green Gold for Development and Sustainability, Firas Jalo - Visual Artist)
Solo Musician (Mahdi Nuri – Musician, Halbast Salah – Teacher, Shren Haqi Hussain - Vocal Coach and Opera Singer)
Kurdish Poetry (Abdulkhaliq Yaqubi - Literary critic and Translator, Shukri Ismail - Poet and Writer, Shaban Sleman - Poet and Journalist)
Software Development (Dr. Nawzad Salayi - Head of Outreach and Capacity Building Department of Information Technology (DIT) Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), Rebwar Raies - Assistant Professor, Dr. Tarfa Yaseen Hamad - University Lecturer).
With the competition announced earlier in March, 863 contestants from all over Iraq (566 males and 297 Females) applied in ten categories before the 140-day deadline.
The Rwanga Awards project officially started in 2014. Since then, the final ceremonies have been organized in different cities such as Erbil, Sulaimani, and Duhok. In 2021, the Rwanga Awards project was expanded to cover all the governorates of Iraq. Last year, the ceremony was held at the National Theater in Baghdad