RIYADH — King Faisal International Prize (KFIP) winners for the year 1434 Hijra (2013) will be announced Monday. The announcement will be made during a ceremony honoring the members of the prize selection panel. The ceremony will be held under the aegis of Prince Khaled Al-Faisal, Emir of Makkah region, and Chairman of KFIP's Trustees Council. Prince Khaled has extended invitations to princes, ministers, top officials, intellectuals and journalists to attend the event in the capital. KFIP, founded in 1979, is one of the most viable activities of King Faisal Philanthropic Foundation established in 1976 by the eight sons of the Kingdom's third monarch, King Faisal, the son of King Abdul Aziz, the founder of Saudi Arabia. The prize is given in the following five branches: Service to Islam, Islamic Studies, Arabic Literature, Medicine, and Science. Several of the prize winners have become Nobel Prize laureates, the thing that led observers to say that winning first the KFIP is the route to the second — the Nobel. KFIP is awarded to individuals and organizations, following voting by specialist selection panel composed of experts in their fields. Since its inception, the prize has been awarded to almost 223 distinguished individuals from 40 different countries without any discrimination on nationalities and religion. Winners included Saudis, Arabs, Africans, Asians, Europeans, and Americans, Muslims and non-Muslims, who have made remarkable contributions to their fields of expertise and specialty.
