Babtain Foundation names its 16th award winners

CAIRO: Abdulaziz Saud Al-Babtain Cultural Foundation named yesterday in a ceremony held in Cairo the winners of its 16th award contest. Awards were given to “Best Book of Verse,” “Best Poem,” “Creativity in Poetry Criticism,” “Honorary Prize for Creativity in Poetry,” in addition to two new awards for “Best Youth Poem” and “Best Youth Book of Verse.”

The foundation chairman, Abdulaziz Saud Al-Babtain, said in a statement during the ceremony, that the foundation always been supporting many issues related to youth, women, identity, and education without abandoning its main role that it was established for to support Arab creativity. The winners of the 16th session of the foundation were Omar Al-Raji from Morocco who won the best youth poem prize valued at $5,000, and Abdullatif bin Yousef Al-Mubarak from Saudi Arabia who won the best youth book of verse valued at $10,000.

Moreover, the best poem, with a prize value of $10,000 was secured by Marwa Halawa from Syria, and the best book of verse, with a prize value of $20,000, was secured by Ahmad Antar Moustafa from Egypt, and for creativity in poetry criticism, with prize valued at $40,000 was shared by Dr Fawzy Saad Eissa from Egypt and Dr Abdulsalam Mahmoud who is also from Egypt. Babtain added that the honorary prize for creativity in the field of poetry, with an estimated value at $50,000, was granted to the late poet Farouk Shosha, who was a member of the board of trustees for almost 20 years. — KUNA