Iraq  (October 21, 2021) - Rwanga Foundation announced the nominees for the ten categories of the Rwanga Awards 2021.

The project was previously announced on 14/4/2021 and youth had 123 days to apply their products. at the end of the deadline for applications, 716 products were applied by the youth in ten categories.

The nominees for the Rwanga Awards 2021 are:

Entrepreneurship:

•  Amir Star Mohammed
•  Huda Hasan Rasul
•  Shewa Abubakr Ali

Scientific Innovation

• Ahmed Jahfer Mawloud
• Diyar Dilshad Hamza
• Salh Mahdi Salh 

Software Development

• Zyad Asaad Muhammed
• Araz Ibrahim Saeed
• Darvan Shvan Khairulddin 

Short Story (Kurdish)

• Bana Mahmoud Muhammed-Zyad
• Othman Hussien Yousif
• Nazila Peshraw Hussen 

Short Story (Arabic)

·        Anat Dhurgham Abdulhameed

·        Silav Hasan Muhammed

·       Hiraa Musa Abdulamer

Poetry (Kurdish)

• Shaho Salah Salih
• Alan Sherko Hussein
• Chrakhan Kakakhan Sharef 

Poetry (Arabic)

·       Mustafa Husam Husien

·       Ali Salm Khalil

·       Safa Hamid Husien

Drawing

• Reem Zaki Abdulsada
• Ali Khalid Hury
• Padasht Khalil Khalid 

Recycled Art

• Ferdaws Ali Muhammad
• Mahmoud Haydar Ahmed
• Karar Jabr Burhan 

Solo Musician

• Barin Ardalan Ainalddin
• Danar Hogr Abubakr
• Rozhyar Luqman Majeed 

Short Film

• Hunar Nawzad Nuri
• Safa Muhammed Hisham
• Sarhat Nariman Khamo 

Photography

• Haidar Muhammed Hashim
• Aras Mahmood Aziz
• Ali Muhammed Kadhim

The nominees were selected by a specialized evaluation committee for each category, the jury members for the Rwanga Awards 2021 were:

Short Story (Kurdish) (Mardin Ibrahim Hamad - Poet and Novelist, Hakeem Abdullah Mohammed – Author)

Short Story (Arabic) (Alyaa Alansari - Novelist and Exective Director at Bint Alrafidain Organization, Ahmed Aljndel - Novelist and Critic)

Drawing (Sahar Jabbar – Painter , Huda Ahmed Sabri – Artist)

Photography (Jamal Penjwene - Head of the Visual Media Department at the Iraqi Prime Minister's Office, Thaier Alsudani - Chief Photographer at REUTERS)

Short film (Shurooq Alhasan – Actress, Kamiran Betasi - Film Director)

Scientific Innovation (Dr.Salah Abdal Azzo - Assistant Professor, Dr.Salih Mustafa Atrushey - Assistant Professor)

Entrepreneurship (Ammar Al-Khatib - Executive Director at The Station Foundation, Waleed Mustafa Khalid - Deputy General Manager of Darin Group)

Recycled Art (Firas Jalo – Artist, Dr.Rezan Omer Rashid - PHD in Enviromental Pollution)

Solo Musician (Dr.Jange Jalal Hasan – PHD in Music, Dr.Ali Mshari - Head of  Musical Arts Department at the University of Basrah)

Poetry (Kurdish) (Rozh Halabjaye – Poet, Ismael Hajani - Poet and Author)

Software Development (Amanj Ali – Founder of Avesta Company, Dr. Nawzad Kameran Salayi - Head of Outreach and Capacity Building, Department of Information Technology of KRG)

The Rwanga Awards is an annual project of Rwanga Foundation, With the goal of improving and fostering the potential of the youth, Rwanga Awards strives to discover talents, to strengthen confidence and to collect all types of artistic, literary, and scientific projects created and developed throughout the Kurdistan region and Iraq aged between 15 and 25 years. The categories are (Kurdish), short story (Arabic), short film, recycled art, scientific innovation, entrepreneurship, solo musician, photography, drawing, poetry (Kurdish), poetry (Arabic), and software development. 

On November 17, 2021. The final ceremony of the project will be held in Baghdad at the National Theatre, during the ceremony, the first, second, and third place winners for each category will be announced and awarded.