Fiction writing, entrepreneurship included in Souk Okaz Prize

Emir of Makkah and Adviser to Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques Prince Khaled Al-Faisal, who is also chairman of the supervising committee of Souk Okaz, has approved including two new categories in the annual Souk Okaz Prizes.

The new categories are for fiction writing and entrepreneurship and innovation.

The entries will be invited for these two categories along with other categories during the 10th edition of the Souk Okaz Prize this year.

The prize for fiction will carry a prize money of SR100,000 while the winner of prize for entrepreneurship and innovation will get SR200,000, the Saudi Press Agency reported.

The prize in fiction category will be given away to a novel this year while the prize  in the coming two years will be given to short story and autobiography.

The prize will be rotational for these three disciplines in every three year.

Works written in Arabic over the last five years will be considered for the prize.

The prize in entrepreneurship and innovation category will be given to entrepreneurs and innovators who established new companies and contributed in finding innovative solutions to the problems facing the society or finding new markets for innovative products.

The annual Souk Okaz prizes are being given away in the categories of poetry, painting, Arab calligraphy, digital photography and scientific invention. The prize money for these categories valued at SR700,000. The poetry prize includes Okaz Poet and Okaz Young Poet. There are also two other categories – handicrafts and folk arts.