Moroccan readers Mariam Bouaoud and Fatima Kettani received the awards “Reader of the Year” and “Promising Reader” at the 9th “Aqraa” -Read- competition, on Saturday, in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, Morocco’s News Agency (MAP) reported.
Bouaoud, 25, received the “Reader of the Year in the Arab World” distinction after outperforming four competitors from Egypt, Iraq, Tunisia, and Saudi Arabia with her literary presentation on the influence of “wild materialism” on human relationships in the modern era.
A doctoral student originally from Tetouan, Bouaoud told MAP, that this recognition validates her commitment to rigorous reading and academic research.
Kettani, a 10-year-old daughter of a Moroccan family residing in KSA, won the newly introduced “Promising Reader” award, having impressed the jury and audience with her reading, providing a comprehensive presentation about the universe and astronautics.
Upon receiving the award, she conveyed her surprise at the victory, sharing her “great joy and enthusiasm” for this achievement.
The Saudi school, “Alajial Alahlia Alalami” from the city of Hafar Al-Batin, earned the “Reading School” award, and the title of “Reading Ambassador” went to the teacher Najlaa Ghazay Assahimi.
A total of 106,000 participants across the Arab world participated in this year’s Aqraa competition, an initiative by the King Abdulaziz International Center for Culture (Itrah).
Ten finalists from seven countries namely Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tunisia, Algeria, Egypt, Iraq, and Morocco competed for the top honors.
The jury included Abdulaziz Al-Sabeel, Secretary-General of the King Faisal International Prize; Sultan Al Nuaimi, President of the Emirates Writers Union; and Raouda Hajj, a poet and expert from the Islamic World Organization for Education, Science and Culture (ISESCO).