Erbil, KURDISTAN (December 6, 2018) – The Rwanga Awards 2018: For the 5th time, the Rwanga Foundation presented its Annual Rwanga Awards, in which the winners of ten categories had been unveiled, announced and awarded. The Award was guided by several entertainment performances such as singing, acts and dancing.
During the two-hour ceremony, 30 winners had been announced as first, second and third place winners for the then categories of Short Film, Recycled Art, Drawing, Scientific Innovation, Entrepreneurship, Solo Music, Software Development, Poetry and Photography. Over thousand people were eager and excited to find out the final results of this year’s Rwanga Awards.
With the goal of improving and fostering the potential of the youth, the Rwanga Awards strives to discover talents, to strengthen confidence and to collect all types of artistic, literary, and scientific projects created and developed throughout the Kurdistan region. From the 12th of August until the 12th of November, the Rwanga Foundation encouraged youths, aged between 15 to 25 years, to apply their art work, ideas and scientific inventions from all over Kurdistan (including refugees and IDPs).
The youths were passionately willing to participate and to submit their art and scientific work. Submissions should have been related to the specific given fields of short story, short film, recycled art, scientific innovation, entrepreneurship, solo music, software development, poetry and photography. To participate, interested individuals had been given assistance and a guideline by reading the necessary conditions, rules and regulations of each category and send his/her subject in, to be evaluated by a fine selected specialized jury (two judges per each category). After evaluation process, the awards were given to the winners at the Rwanga Awards 2018 ceremony in Erbil. During the ceremony below winners were unveiled for each category:
Winners of the Rwanga Awards 2018
| Rank | Winner's Name | Age | Category | Place |
| 1 | Yad Bayad | 24 | Short Film | Erbil |
| 2 | Bahman Salah | 24 | Short Film | Sulaimani |
| 3 | Skalla Nadhm | 17 | Short Film | Kirkuk |
| Rank | Winner's Name | Age | Category | Place |
| 1 | Lana Barham | 24 | Entrepreneurship | Sulaimani |
| 2 | Sarbast Tariq | 23 | Entrepreneurship | Erbil |
| 3 | Ali Abdulla | 25 | Entrepreneurship | Erbil |
| Rank | Winner's Name | Age | Category | Place |
| 1 | Bryar Kamal | 20 | Scientific Invention | Sulaimani |
| 2 | Ahmad Jaafar | 22 | Scientific Invention | Erbil |
| 3 | Farman Yaasin | 24 | Scientific Invention | Erbil |
| Rank | Winner's Name | Age | Category | Place |
| 1 | Druud Mohammed | 22 | Recycled Art | Sulaimani |
| 2 | Yassen Abdullrahman | 23 | Recycled Art | Ranya/Sulaimani |
| 3 | Esra Muslih | 22 | Recycled Art | Erbil |
| Rank | Winner's Name | Age | Category | Place |
| 1 | Gashaw Najmadin | 24 | Poetry | Chamchamal/Kirkuk |
| 2 | Aland Bangin | 19 | Poetry | Duhok |
| 3 | Renas Salahaddin | 19 | Poetry | Sulaimani |
| Rank | Winner's Name | Age | Category | Place |
| 1 | Rebin Hakim | 22 | Photography | Sulaimani |
| 2 | Rawa Reus | 24 | Photography | Ranya/Sulaimani |
| 3 | Bamo Awat | 19 | Photography | Sulaimani |
| Rank | Winner's Name | Age | Category | Place |
| 1 | Namo Muhammad | 24 | Drawing | Sulaimani |
| 2 | Diyar Mohamed | 25 | Drawing | Duhok |
| 3 | Rouyda Hussain | 24 | Drawing | Duhok |
| Rank | Winner's Name | Age | Category | Place |
| 1 | Rehat Hamaaziz | 18 | Solo Music | Halabja |
| 2 | Ahmad Himdad | 22 | Solo Music | Erbil |
| 3 | Rawa Badran | 16 | Solo Music | Erbil |
| Rank | Winner's Name | Age | Category | Place |
| 1 | Bawar Kamal | 24 | Software Development | Sulaimani |
| 2 | Heva Tahir | 21 | Software Development | Sulaimani |
| 3 | Rawand Ako | 20 | Software Development | Erbil |
| Rank | Winner's Name | Age | Category | Place |
| 1 | Hawdin Hussein | 19 | Short Story | Chamchamal/Kirkuk |
| 2 | Peshin Khalil | 22 | Short Story | Ranya/Sulaimani |
| 3 | Safin Morad | 21 | Short Story | Khalifan/Erbil |
During the Rwanga Awards several entertainment groups were performing. First off, the Orchestra Performance from Kurdistan-Erbil Orchestra, which opened the Awards with some
beautiful piece of music. Followed by Magic Show from the famous British magician.The Iresh Skehana Group further on shook the audience up with its tap dance. Last but not least the two
young singers, Beshara Hanna and Jezhwan Jaz, alongside with RDR music band gave the Rwanga Awards a perfect elegant and gracious end.
The 5th Annual Rwanga Awards was sponsored by 29 Sponsors, our Sponsors consisted of (FASTLINK and KAR GROUP) as the Diamond Sponsor, (SALAHADEEN HOLDING, MELLAT HOLDING, DARIN GROUP, ERBIL INTERNATIONAL HOTEL, AD MEDIA, HEWA HOLDING, GEG REKLAM and ENLIGHTORS) as Gold Sponsors, (HIGEN, MOONLINE, METROGRAPHY, SABIS, LUCID SOURCE) as Silver Sponsor, (RUDAW MEDIA NETWORK) as media partner and (KURDISTAN 24, NET TV, WAAR TV, KURD MAX, DUHOK TV, KURDISTAN TV, BUSINESS MAGAZINE, RADIO TAXI, MIX FM, BABYLON FM, DWAROZH, M RADIO and EMPIRECINEMAS) as Media Sponsors.
The Rwanga Awards officially started in 2014 and ever since was taking place in difference cities: Erbil for 2014, Sulaimani for 2015, Duhok for 2016 and Erbil for 2017. This year, the ceremony was taken back to its birthplace in Erbil, this time at the Saad Abdullah Conference
Hall.
