Arabic language award winners to get SR1.5m

Higher Education Minister Khaled Al-Anqari recently announced SR1.5 million in cash prize for the winners of a new award honoring individuals who have advanced the Arabic language.
Al-Anqari had announced the new categories within the International Awards for the Service of the Arabic Language (SAL).
The award, whose name was adapted from the King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz International Center for the Arabic Language (KAICA), aims to contribute to the development of research in the areas of SAL, motivate scholars, researchers and specialists in the field and recognize their outstanding efforts.
It also seeks to motivate institutions involved in the SAL and promote excellence and quality in their efforts.
The award was instituted in March 2013. Prizes are awarded every two years for subjects approved by the center’s board of trustees.
According to Al-Anqari, also general supervisor of KAICA, the committee has identified award categories, which include scholars who have taught Arabic to children and institutions that teach Arabic to non-Arabic speakers.
Each category will win a cash prize worth SR75,000, in addition to a medal and certificate, according to the minister.
Al-Anqari has invited institutions and individuals to participate and nominate candidates who could meet the award criteria.
Nominees from among scholars must have served the Arabic language through distinguished scientific studies and published research on its current topic, which is teaching the language to children.
Institutions, meanwhile, should have made varied contributions to the SAL on how to teach Arabic to non-native speakers.