RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman will attend the closing ceremony of the National Cultural Awards initiative, organized by the Ministry of Culture, on April 19 in Riyadh. Minister of Culture Prince Badr bin Abdullah bin Farhan praised the crown prince’s “generous patronage of this cultural event,” which honors creative people in the Kingdom, including entrepreneurs and the youth, the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported. He said that this ceremony will crown the nation’s greatest intellectuals, and “is an indication of the appreciation, attention, and care that culture enjoys from the Saudi leadership, in light of the Kingdom’s Vision 2030, which raised the value of culture and gave it its high position as one of the components of quality of life and the main components of national identity.” The minister extended his thanks to King Salman and the crown prince for their continuous and growing support for the culture sector and its various creative fields in all regions of the Kingdom. During the closing ceremony — which will be held at the Culture Palace in the Al-Safarat neighborhood, Riyadh’s Diplomatic Quarter — the winners of the initiative’s awards will be honored. There are 14 categories of awards covering various cultural fields in the Kingdom, including film, theater, fashion, music, literature, architecture, visual arts, culinary arts, national heritage, publication, and translation. There are also cultural awards for Personality of the Year, youth, and cultural institutions. The awards ceremony brings to an end the journey the National Cultural Awards initiative has made since it began in June last year, during which it received about 15,000 nominations from the entire cultural community. The screening process began in October, the eliminations were held in November, and the evaluation and judging process was in December, the SPA said. The nominations were distributed among the different branches and specializations of the initiative. The Ministry of Culture organized the awards initiative as part of the initiatives of the Quality of Life Program, one of the Kingdom’s Vision 2030 programs. It aims to “provide established honorary paths for cultural achievements in the Kingdom, and to celebrate the accomplishments of Saudi creative makers, whether individuals, groups, or institutions in all cultural sectors.” The initiative is based on the ministry’s belief in the importance of local cultural production, and raising it to higher levels of quality and mastery, to create a competitive cultural environment that enriches and diversifies cultural content.