Ministry of Culture announces winners of the State’s Appreciation Prizes for 2020

DAMASCUS, (ST)- The Ministry of Culture has announced the names of the winners of the State’s Appreciation Prizes for the year 2020.

The literature prize went to Dr. Iskandar Luqa, the prominent Syrian writer, while the arts prize went to fine artists Dr. Ihsan Entabi, and the prize of literary criticism, studies and translation went to critic Dr. Wahab Roumieh.

“The prize honors my literary production over the past years. It is a great honor to win this prize under the current circumstances in the country, Dr, Luqa told SANA, stressing that his writings are part of his duty as a citizen who deeply understands the circumstances through which his homeland is passing.

Dr. Iskandar Luqa is a story writer and novelist born in Alexandretta in 1929. He began writing short story at an early age. He obtained a doctorate degree from Saint Joseph University in Lebanon in 1975, and by the end of 2007, he had published forty-five books, including collections of stories, plays and novels. He has several contributions to radio, TV, newspapers and bulletins inside Syria and abroad.  

 Dr. Luqa is one of the founders of the Union of Arab Writers and a member of the Union of Arab Journalists and Fine Artists.

On his part, Dr. Wahab Roumieh said in a statement to SANA that honoring creative people and intellectuals by the Ministry of Culture indicates a deep understanding of the role of culture in society, expressing hope that culture will be the cornerstone of building human beings.

Dr. Roumieh was born in Lattakia in 1944. He obtained a doctorate degree in Old Literature from the Faculty of Letters of Cairo University in 1977. He was the professor of Old Literature at Damascus University and the head of Arabic Language Department at Sanaa University.

Dr. Roumieh won the Prize of Kuwait Foundation for Advancement of Sciences in 2007 for a book on poetry and criticism.

Dr. Ihsan Intabi, on his part told SANA that he highly appreciates the Culture Ministry’s initiative to honor creative people and intellectuals despite the critical circumstances Syria has been experiencing because of the war and sanctions. “The prize is a great motive for us to give more to our homeland,” he said.

Fine artist, Dr. Intabi, was born in Aleppo in 1945. He graduated from the Faculty of Fine Arts in Damascus, Department of Visual Communications in 1969. He also graduated from the national Supreme School for Decoration Arts (Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs) in Paris in 1975. He worked as a professor of visual communications at the Faculty of Fine Arts in Damascus and as the Dean of the Faculty of Arts at the Private International University.

He took part in several educational workshops in foreign universities and held some solo and collective exhibitions inside Syria and abroad.

His artistic works are exhibited at the Culture Ministry, the National Museum of Damascus and some European museums.

Hamda Mustafa