Saudi artists have won the first three places in the first Islamic competition to beautify 12 murals in Makkah. The winners were honored by Prince Khaled Al-Faisal, Emir of Makkah Region, at King Abdul Aziz Historical Center in Abragh Al-Raghama here on Monday. First place went to Yasser Azhar; Saud Khan won the second palce and Yousef Jaha came in third. Fourth place went to an Iranian company, Sazab. Each winner in the first category won SR112,500 and a gift from the Makkah Mayoralty. The head of the jury committee, Mohammad Farsi, a former mayor of Jeddah said, “Most of the works were very attractive and the artists succeeding in referencing the Islamic heritage of Makkah, which has a special place in the hearts of all Muslims. When we selected the winners, we considered those that reflected both Makkah's history and the Islamic fine arts.” There were 442 works in the competition and the jury committee selected the nine entries that best implemented the main rules of the contest. “We invited Islamic artists to participate in order to create a good chance for them to create their art based on the Islamic background of Makkah,” said Osama Al-Bar, Mayor of Makkah. Reham Mohsen, an Egyptian artist, won fifth place and a team of three Egyptian artists, Ahmed Enab, Ahmed Badawi and Yasser Mohana was placed sixth. Zeyad Bakory, an Iraqi, was awarded seventh place. Eighth place went to Ahmed Alawi, who is from Iraq, and the Amal Filmban, a Saudi female artist, won ninth place. The ceremony included a documentary about the 12 murals in Makkah, which spread the culture of Islamic fine arts to the world. After the ceremony, Prince Khaled Al-Faisal opened the fine arts gallery at King Abdul Aziz Historical Center, which contains 306 works of art created by participants in the competition. Okaz Organization for Press and Publication was the main media sponsor for the event.
