ISLAMABAD: A week-long National Calligraphy Competition and Exhibition will start from Friday, February 23, at a local hotel, with the participation of Calligraphers from all across the country.
The calligraphy competition and exhibition is dedicated to legendary calligrapher Abdul Majeed Parveen Raqam and is being arranged by National History and Literary Heritage (NH&LH) Division.
Talking to APP on Thursday, Advisor to Prime Minister on NH&LH Irfan Siddiqui said that the division has received a total of 309 calligraphic artworks from across the country, out of which the jury members have shortlisted 90 art pieces for the competition.
“It is heartening to see that calligraphers from far-flung areas of the country including FATA, Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Jammu and Kashmir have submitted their unique art pieces to the division for participating in the competition, which reflects their enthusiasm and love for this ancient art,” he said.
He said that the jury members, comprising expert calligraphers, will further scrutinise the artworks to identify the best calligraphers and give them awards and cash prizes. The competition will help discover talented calligraphers from the remote corners of the country, and will play a vital role in the revival of this Islamic art, he added.
Irfan further said that a total of 15 awards will be given in three categories to the winners of the competitions on the concluding day of the exhibition, February 28. These categories include Nastaleeq, Thuluth and modern style calligraphy.
Cash prizes worth Rs75,000, Rs50,000, Rs40,000, Rs20,000 and Rs15,000 will be given to the best five calligraphers of each category.
The selection of best calligraphers will be made by the jury comprising senior calligraphers in a transparent manner. The calligraphers participating in the competition will also conduct training workshops during the calligraphy exhibition.
An exhibition of selected calligraphic art pieces will also be held along with the competition which will remain open to the general public during the whole week.
