The Islamic World Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (ICESCO) has the pleasure to announce the names of the winners of its creativity awards. The awards include the ICESCO Short Film Award, Short Stories Award, and Drawing and Music Award.

The Organization launched the awards last April as part of its “Distance Culture,” a project of the “ICESCO Digital Home” initiative to promote artistic creativity and intellectual productivity among youth and students during the lockdown period. The Organization believed in the importance of supporting art and literature and identify new talents in the Islamic world, in cooperation with the Layan Cultural Foundation.

The announcement of the awards’ winners comes as part of the celebration of the International Day of Islamic Art over the period from 18 through 25 November 2020. Six short films won the ICESCO Short Film Award as follows:

First Prize: Rajaa Khaled Aïche, Palestine, for her film “My Friend”; and Mohammed Ehsani, Iran, for his film “The Sound of Wind.”

Second Prize: Mohamed Afeeq, Sultanate of Brunei, for his film “Saya;” and Ben Gharnout Mustapha, Algeria, for his film “A New Life for the Fish.”

Third Prize: Ali Fuad, Tanzania, for his film “Distancing;” and Ibrahim Riyad, Egypt, for his film “The Children of the Sea.”

As for the Short Story Award, the winners are as follows:

First Prize: Lina Fouz Boutounfit, Morocco.

Second Prize: Hour bint Khaled Al Nabhanya, Oman.

Third Prize: Hayfaa Saeed Al Mtairi, Saudi Arabia.

ICESCO was keen on ensuring the participation of all age categories in the drawing contest. The winners are divided into two categories:

• Children:

First Prize: Nour bint Mahmoud Al Salmiyeh, Oman.

Second Prize: Maryam Tabandah, Iran.

Third Prize: Hubert Moro, Gabon.

• Adults

First Prize: Hanane Hassan Zayd Yahya, Yemen.

Second Prize: Leila Bounilat, Morocco.

Third Prize: Khaled Saleh Breik, Yemen; and Adel Abdullah Al Majeidi, Egypt.

The Music Award went to two participants from the Kingdom of Morocco:

First Prize: Fatima Ezzahra Rezzak.

Second Prize: Asmae Karimi.

The participating works are characterized by the quality of the preparation, design and direction, and the great interest in educational content. The jury took into consideration the extraordinary conditions in which the works were produced and the unequal access to filming and direction equipment by students in poor and rich countries.

Given the extraordinary current situation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, and the impossibility to hold a face-to-face award ceremony, ICESCO will transfer the financial rewards to all winners.