Roberta Fedele Saudi Gazette JEDDAH — The winner of Jarir Bookstore's Professional Photography Competition Hasnaa Al Wakeed was awarded an SR10,000 cheque recently by Samer Gari, Manager of Jarir Bookstore, Western Area Showrooms. Al Wakeed won the competition for coming up with the most innovative idea concerning the contest theme: My Favorite Jarir Moment. The second place SR7,500 prize and third place SR5,000 prize went to Ranad Al Jabari and Mohammed Ameen respectively. The photography competition, opened to all, was launched two months ago by Jarir Bookstore through its website and Facebook and Twitter pages. Participants from all over the Middle East took part in the competition. “Our website has become very popular among locals thanks to a Youtube video clip competition and a children's competition that the bookstore recently organized. The overwhelming response to such initiatives prompted us to arrange this photography contest,” explained Gari. Accompanied by her family, Al Wakeed received her prize at Jarir's showroom on Sari Street. The young student was delighted by the win. “I came to know about the competition through Jarir's Facebook ads. In the beginning I thought I wasn't professional enough to compete but then one of my friends encouraged me to try. I had nothing to lose so I decided to give myself a chance and submitted 3 pictures. One of them was chosen among the top 20 pictures that were selected by Jarir to be voted by the public,” she said. Al Wakeed said she wanted something original that showed the “multipurpose role of Jarir.” “I created a collage of Jarir's leaflets and fliers displaying books and all kinds of technology to convey the store's multifunctional dimension,” she explained.
