Doha: The Katara Cultural Village Foundation has announced the opening of submissions for the 10th Katara Quran Recitation Award, themed “Adorn the Quran with Your Voices,” starting yesterday. The deadline for submissions is September 30.
The Katara Quran Recitation Award aims to encourage and discover outstanding talents in reciting the Holy Quran, selecting the most beautiful and melodious voices, and showcasing distinguished reciters who perform the Quran according to the rules of Tajweed.
It also aims to honour outstanding and creative reciters and motivate younger generations to adhere to their faith and understand their duties towards their Islamic beliefs and message.
The award committee will receive all submissions and forward them to the selection committee, which will evaluate the submissions to select the top 100 participants.
The submissions of the top 100 will then be presented to the initial judging panel for further evaluation, which will select the top 15 finalists. Only the 15 shortlisted participants must travel to Doha to participate in the qualifying rounds and compete before the final judging panel and the vocal quality committee.
These 15 shortlisted participants will then compete to determine the top three winners of the Katara Prize for Quran Recitation.
The prize committee has outlined the participation procedures, which include reading and agreeing to the terms and conditions on the prize website; uploading the required files and sending them via Telegram to +974 6681 1155, clearly stating the participant’s name, country, and age; and not sending files from two different phone numbers.
The required files include a copy of the participant’s travel document or national ID, a personal photograph, and two video files containing two segments of Quran recitation. Each segment must be no longer than six minutes and must be recited in the Tajweed style (using the established maqams). The first segment (Surah Hud) begins with verse 112: “So be steadfast as you have been commanded.”
The second section (Surah Al-An’am): from verse 59 (And with Him are the keys of the unseen.).
The committee specified the method and conditions for video recording: the recitation must be in the participant’s own voice; the recitation must be clear, melodious, and free of errors; the recording must be free of any technical processing or audio enhancements; the recording must be recent and made specifically for this award; two separate segments must be recorded and submitted as two separate files; the participant must be filmed reciting the verses with focus on them; and the camera must be no more than three meters away from the participant.
The participant must respect and revere the Book of God and refrain from tampering with the recording. Any entry that does not comply with the aforementioned conditions will be disqualified.
The award’s judging panel consists of six members: three certified in Quranic readings and the rules of Tajweed, and three specialists in maqamat (melodic modes) and vocal beauty and melodiousness.
The Katara Cultural Village Foundation will produce a CD for the first-place winner, featuring a complete recitation of the Holy Quran, in its studios.
The total prize money for the Katara Prize for Quran Recitation is QR800,000. The first-place winner receives QR500,000, the second-place winner receives QR200,000, and the third-place winner receives QR100,000.
