Rwanga Awards commences at the Baghdad National Thearter
Shafaq News/ The annual Rwanga Foundation Awards festival has began 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)
