KUALA LUMPUR: Two Malaysian students emerged winners of the second Bayan Award for Creative Expression in Arabic organised by the Islamic World Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (ICESCO) recently.

       Muhammad Aman Mohamad Rizal of SK Raja Muda Musa, Kuala Kangsar, won the children’s category while Atiqah Maisarah Roslan of SMA Atas Sultan Zainal Abidin SMA (A) SZA, Batu Buruk, Terengganu, came out tops in the teen category.

       The competition provides different prizes for winners of the three age categories, namely children (US$1,000), teenagers (US$1,500) and youth (US$2,000).

       According to a statement from the ICESCO Centre for Arabic for non-Arabic speakers, the initiative was to encourage creative expression of non-native Arabic speakers, as well as to cultivate language skills through creative writing and speech.

       The participants were asked to produce a short video based on the theme of post-Covid-19 learning, prevention is better than cure, cultural and technological and future diversity.

       Each entry was evaluated in terms of language accuracy, ideas and the quality as well as creativity of the presentation. - Bernama