In keeping with the spirit of the holy month of Ramadan, the Philippine Embassy in Riyadh, in cooperation with various Filipino community organizations and Philippine schools, has launched the annual Kingdomwide Qur'an reading competition. Antonio P. Villamor, Philippine Ambassador, announced that this year's competition, the 9th Qur'an reading contest, will have two categories of contestants – the professional and children's categories. The four regions of the Kingdom, namely Riyadh, Qassim, the Eastern Province, and Western Region (including Jeddah, Makkah and Madina) will each conduct their respective elimination competitions within their region for both categories. The winners in these regional competitions will then compete in the final competition to be held at the Philippine Embassy in Riyadh on Aug. 26. In the children's category, under the rules of the competition, the four regions will select their participants, irrespective of their number, who will compete for the position of regional champion. Regional champions in turn will vie for the grand and final competition to be held at the Philippine Embassy chancery in Riyadh on Aug. 26. Only four finalists will participate in the final competition in the children's category. In the professional category, the four regions will also be allowed to field an unlimited number of contestants during the regional elimination competition. However, only nine regional winners will be selected to vie for the final championship round which will also be held at the Philippine Embassy in the Riyadh Diplomatic Quarter. For the Riyadh and Western Region, each will be allowed to send their three top winners to the final competition. The Eastern Province will select its top two contestants to compete in the final competition, while the Qassim region will send only its first place winner. A total of nine regional winners will compete in the final round. According to the rules of the competition, professional contestants must be male Filipino Muslims who are legal residents of Saudi Arabia. They must also be endorsed by their regional community. A contestant in the children's category must be a male Filipino Muslim, who is a high school student in any of the Philippine schools in the Kingdom, and who is endorsed by his school principal and the regional community he represents. The criteria for judging in both the elimination and final rounds of the contest will be 35 points for diction or Tajweed, 20 points for eloquence or Tarteel, 20 points for melody or Tarannum, 15 points for voice or Shawt, and 10 points for correct reading or Sihatal Quera'a.
