Prince Salman to distribute prizes for research

Defense Minister Prince Salman, chairman of the King Abdul Aziz Foundation for Research and Archives (Darah), will distribute Prince Salman Prizes and Grants for the Arabian Peninsular Historical Studies and Research for 2012 tomorrow. He will also launch the King Abdul Aziz Prize for Writers at the function at the King Abdul Aziz Lectures Hall in the King Abdul Aziz Historical Center in Riyadh. Chairman of the Saudi Commission for Tourism and Antiquity (SCTA) Prince Sultan bin Salman lauded the support given by Prince Salman to historical studies in the Kingdom. “Prince Salman is well-known for his passion for the Kingdom’s history and heritage and also for his encouragement of cultural and historical research establishments in different parts of the Kingdom,” Prince Sultan said in a statement on the eve of the occasion. Prince Salman is the chairman of the supreme commission for the prize and grant. “Prince Salman’s patronage of the function will be a boost to the continuity of competitions in historical research on the Kingdom and the Arabian Peninsula,” Secretary-General of Darah Fahd Al-Sammari said in a statement yesterday. Prince Salman will hand over the prizes to the 18 winners selected by the Higher Committee for the Prizes and Grants, Al-Sammari said. The most distinguished winner in the fourth edition of the prizes this year is Ruler of Sharjah Sheikh Sultan bin Muhammad Al-Qassimi, who is also member of the Supreme Council of the United Arab Emirates. He is the first winner of the prize for outstanding non-Saudi historians, Al-Sammari said. The Saudi winners include Abu Abdul Rahman Al-Zahiri, Laila bint Saleh Al-Bassam, Abdul Kareem Al-Khateeb and Hijab bin Yahya Al-Hazmi. The prizes for doctoral theses went to “Metallic arts of Al-Fao village” prepared by Maha bint Abdullah Al-Sinan and “the Ottoman administration and regulations in Hijaz during the reign of Sultan Abdul Hameed II” written by Dayel Al-Khalidi. The winning dissertations for master's degree include “Prophet’s biography in the narrations of Anas bin Malik” prepared by Wadha Al-Shahrani and “the influence of charity works in Makkan society during the Ayyubi and Mamluk periods” prepared by Fahd Al-Neghaimashi. The prizes for books went to Houses and Chambers of the Prophet (peace be upon him) by Muhammad Al-Jameel of the King Saud University, and the Holiness and Merits of Makkah and Madinah in Jewish and Christian writings by Laila Zaezu and Assam Mudir. Scholarly article “The present state of building of the Maudi mosque in Diriyah” by Abdul Nasser Al-Zahrani of King Saud University received the prize. Research grants are to be awarded to five men and a woman research scholar. The winners have been selected from 65 contestants who submitted their works to a screening committee. Prince Sultan, who is also a member of the board of directors of the Darah, stressed the importance of the collaboration between the SCTA and the Darah in conducting studies of history and heritage of the Kingdom especially when the SCTA has many museums and undertaken numerous research studies.