DOHA: Katara Cultural Village has announced the results of the Covid stay-at-home writing competitions it organised recently. More than 1,800 entries were received in the competitions held in two categories - for adults and students - on the themes of ‘Working from Home’ and ‘Studying from Home’, respectively.
In the Working from Home category, Chad Martin, a Canadian citizen, won the first prize; Jan Xavier Pacle (Philippines), won the second prize and Matthias Krug (Germany), the third prize.
In the Studying from Home category, Shahd Ashawesh (British national, Doha College) won the first prize; Joshua Hackett (Italian national, Qatar Finland International School) won the second prize, and Kari Louise Sparrock (British national, American School of Doha) the third prize.
The first, second and third prizes in both categories carry cash awards of QR10,000, QR7,000 and QR5,000, respectively.
Katara is also giving seven consolation prizes in each category.
In the Working from Home category, the consolation prize winners are: Emma Rogers (New Zealand), Mohammad Azhar Abbas (Pakistan), Sandra Negreira (Britain), Megha Mariam George (India), Samantha Clare Elemento (Philippines), Peter Pearce (Britain) and Masaba Obaid Abdulla (Pakistan).
In the Studying from Home category, the consolation prize winners are: Zuha Imran (Pakistan International School); Dena El Fahal (English Modern School); Mariam Erradi (Hayat School); Hassan Syed Mohd (DPS-MODERN India School); Shayan Raza Kashif Abbas (The Next Generation School); Sara Hamamieh (Blyth Academy Qatar) and Inas Binti Mohd Amin (Al-Khor International School). All the winners were selected by a panel of judges.
“When the world is going through a period of severe crisis due to Covid pandemic, we organized these competitions to give an opportunity to people to share their experiences and thus motivate themselves and the community. The response we received was overwhelming and shows that the community is facing this crisis with optimism and resilience,” said Dr Khalid bin Ibrahim Al-Sulaiti, General Manager of Katara Cultural Village.
“It was extremely difficult for the judges to decide the winners because several entries were of very high quality and well-written. Unfortunately, we can give only a limited number of prizes,” Khalid Al-Sayed, head of the Competitions Committee, said.
“The creativity and writing skills of several participants, especially students, were amazing. From the entries, we realise that people have appreciated the efforts taken by the government to fight the Covid 19 and students are very keen to go back to their schools. The huge response will encourage us to organise more such competitions and events in the future,” Khalid Al-Sayed said.
A total of 1,831 entries were received in two categories of the competitions which were open to all citizens and residents of Qatar with valid residence permits. A total of 1,138 entries were received in the student category and 693 entries in the adult category.
There were participants of 83 nationalities, of which students were of 66 nationalities and adults of 52 nationalities.
This is the second time Katara is organising a writing competition in English for the community. It had recently organised a creative writing workshop and shorty story completion for students of English-medium schools in Qatar.
Katara also organises Arabic fiction awards, which is held annually and is the biggest prize of its kind in the Middle East region both in prize money and the number of participants. The prize-winning novels are also translated into English and French.
