Saudi Gazette report

RIYADH — The ministries of Culture and Education have launched the first edition of Cultural Talents Tournament, which is considered the first of its kind in Saudi Arabia.

The Undersecretary of the Ministry of Culture for National Partnerships, Noha Kattan, said the tournament covers various tracks in different cultural sectors, most notably short films in the films sector, and Arabic calligraphy and fine arts in the visual arts sector.

These include playing and singing in the music sector, acting in theater, short stories and manga stories in the literature sector, as well as folk dances in the heritage sector.

The tournament spreads over seven main stages, starting from discovering creative talent, remote training, and then competition between the creators in different regions of Saudi Arabia. After that, the creators will be honored before they will be sent to a training camp to polish their skills. This will be followed by the voting stage.

The final stage is the performance at the closing ceremony. Prizes worth a total of SR5 million are up for grabs. The winners in each track and education stage will receive SR100,000 each, the first runner-up will get SR75,000, and the third runner-up SR50,000.