General Authority for Sports celebrated the announcement of winners in the first Saudi Talents Competition. The closing ceremony was held under the patronage of Prince Abdullah Bin Musaed Bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud, President of the General Authority for Sports, at the Ritz Carlton Hotel, Riyadh, last Friday. A large audience attended the event which also displayed the participants' work. The 10 winners received awards from the prince. The first awardee is Fares Al Hamid, who won a car worth SR 100,000, while the first runner-up Abdulkarim Al Shalahi received a car worth SR75,000. Second runner-up Abdulrahman Al Shalhoub received a check for SR50,000. Mohammad Al Qahtani, a Saudi national and global public speaking award winner at international competitions, gave a presentation on how inspiration and excellence can be shown by creative and talented individuals. Winners of the 4th-10th places were each awarded cash amounts of SR15,000 and commemorative shields. The winners were Hawraa Ali, Hamad Salman Al Ouda, Ohoud Abdullah, Malak Al Shahri, Ziad Badghesh, Hiba Al Ghamdi and Manei Al Waili. Prince Abdullah Bin Musaed received a special gift from Assad Abualjadail, Chairman of the Board at Creative Edge Group. The prince, who is the President of the General Authority for Sports, commended the distinguished talents at the ceremony and noted that this is the first experience for the Authority, and will be supported further to attract more talent. The General Authority for Sports launched this competition, the largest of its kind in the country, on April 12, 2016, using the Kingdom's online platforms to find male and female Saudi talents aged 14-35. The competition started with a dedicated website for entries, where over 2,500 applications were received within just 20 days. Graphic Art talent was the most popular entry; online interactions exceeded 20 million; the competition website recorded over 1.5 million visitors, along with 600,000+ YouTube views since the April 12th launch. A specialized committee examined the entries and 120 were shortlisted for the 10-day public vote. After fierce competition and more than 250,000 votes, 30 talents qualified to reach the semifinals. The jury met the talents in Riyadh and Jeddah, examining their entries under strict and fair measures, resulting in 10 talents reaching the finals. The finalists were again subject to public voting, which determined the final results, which were announced during the closing ceremony.
