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KAPSARC, KSGAAL Launch 3rd Edition of KAPSARC Arabic Award

KAPSARC, KSGAAL Launch 3rd Edition of KAPSARC Arabic Award
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KAPSARC, KSGAAL Launch 3rd Edition of KAPSARC Arabic Award

KAPSARC, KSGAAL Launch 3rd Edition of KAPSARC Arabic Award

Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah Petroleum Studies and Research Center (KAPSARC), in partnership with the King Salman Global Academy for Arabic Language (KSGAAL), announced on Sunday that submissions for this year's 3rd edition of the KAPSARC Arabic Award will be open until October 31.

The award aims to enrich Arabic content in energy, economics, and the environment. For the first time, it will target graduate students at Saudi universities and Saudi authors and translators residing in the Kingdom. It will also include professionals from the Saudi energy sector, continuing the focus from previous editions.

This year's award theme is environmental, social, and governance sustainability standards in the energy sector, a crucial topic both locally and globally. This theme aligns with Saudi Arabia's Vision 2030 goals and aims to support and bolster scientific writing in Arabic. The top winners in each category will receive cash prizes totaling SAR320,000.

President of KAPSARC Eng. Fahad Alajlan emphasized that the award supports Saudi Arabia's efforts to value and elevate the Arabic language, boosting its presence in various scientific and intellectual fields. It also aims to cement KAPSARC's role as a beacon of innovation and knowledge dissemination in energy, economics, and environmental studies.

KSGAAL Secretary-General Dr. Abdullah Al-Washmi stressed that the academy is pleased to recognize and promote the diverse efforts of Saudis in serving and elevating the Arabic language. This collaboration targets researchers, creators, and enthusiasts to acknowledge their achievements and encourage further innovation and usage of the language.

KAPSARC is a leading research and consulting center in energy economics and sustainability. It is dedicated to advancing the energy sector in Saudi Arabia and guiding global policies through evidence-based research and specialized consulting services.

KSGAAL was established to boost the role of the Arabic language regionally and globally, showcasing its value within the broader Arabic and Islamic cultural context and contributing to the goals of Saudi Vision 2030.

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Culture

In Belarus, the Native Language is Vanishing as Russian Takes Prominence

FILE - Schoolchildren perform at a ceremony marking Belarus' holiday honoring the state flag and emblem in Minsk, Belarus, on May 13, 2012. (AP Photo, File)
FILE - Schoolchildren perform at a ceremony marking Belarus' holiday honoring the state flag and emblem in Minsk, Belarus, on May 13, 2012. (AP Photo, File)
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In Belarus, the Native Language is Vanishing as Russian Takes Prominence

FILE - Schoolchildren perform at a ceremony marking Belarus' holiday honoring the state flag and emblem in Minsk, Belarus, on May 13, 2012. (AP Photo, File)
FILE - Schoolchildren perform at a ceremony marking Belarus' holiday honoring the state flag and emblem in Minsk, Belarus, on May 13, 2012. (AP Photo, File)

When school started this year for Mikalay in Belarus, the 15-year-old discovered that his teachers and administrators no longer called him by that name. Instead, they referred to him as Nikolai, its Russian equivalent.

What's more, classes at his school — one of the country's best — are now taught in Russian, not Belarusian, which he has spoken for most of his life.

Belarusians like Mikalay are experiencing a new wave of Russification as Moscow expands its economic, political and cultural dominance.

Russia under the czars and in the era of the Soviet Union imposed its language, symbols and cultural institutions on Belarus. But with the demise of the USSR in 1991, the country began to assert its identity, and Belarusian briefly became the official language, with the white-red-white national flag replacing a version of the red hammer and sickle, according to The AP.

But all that changed in 1994, after Alexander Lukashenko, a former Soviet collective farm official, came to power. The authoritarian leader made Russian an official language, alongside Belarusian, and did away with the nationalist symbols.

Now, with Lukashenko in control of the country for over three decades, he has allowed Russia to dominate all aspects of life in Belarus, a country of 9.5 million people. Belarusian, which like Russian uses the Cyrillic alphabet, is hardly heard on the streets of Minsk and other large cities anymore.

Official business is conducted in Russian, which dominates the majority of the media. Lukashenko speaks only Russian, and government officials often don't use their native tongue.

Belarus was part of the Russian empire for centuries and became one of 15 Soviet republics after the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution. Daily use of the Belarusian language decreased and continued only in the country's west and north and in rural areas.

In 1994, about 40% of students were taught in Belarusian; it's now down to under 9%.

Although Belarusian, like Russian, is an eastern Slavic language, its vocabulary is considerably different.