IRCICA presents calligrapahy awards

ISTANBUL- Hürriyet Daily News

Calligraphy Competition at a ceremony organized for İhsanoğlu.

The Research Centre for Islamic History, Art and Culture (IRCICA) has announced the results of the Ninth International Calligraphy Competition at a ceremony organized in the presence of Ekmeleddin İhsanoğlu, Secretary General of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation. A total of 672 calligraphers from 39 countries participated in the competition with 900 works this year. The competition presented awards in ten main styles of writing, namely jaly thuluth, thuluth, naskh, jaly taliq, taliq, jaly diwani, diwani, qufi, riq’a and maghribi.

The first prizes went to Seyit Amhet Depeler from Turkey, Abdah Muhammad Hasan Al-Camal from Egypt, Ehab Ebraheem Thabet from Palestine and N Habib Ramazanpour from Iran in the taliq, thuluth, naskh, and naskh taliq sections, respectively. Ekmeleddin İhsanoğlu spoke at the ceremony, saying, “The competition has been held for 30 years. We would like to celebrate the calligraphy arts.”

IRCICA holds the calligraphy competition periodically within the framework of its activities aiming to preserve and promote Islamic artistic heritage. The objective of the competition is to preserve, revive and promote the classical art of Islamic calligraphy and encourage young artists to ensure its continuation in accordance with its traditional rules and principles by protecting it from trends emerging outside the original and authentic classical art under influences from outside the Islamic culture. The calligraphy competition is organized once every three years. The Jury of the Ninth Calligraphy Competition met from 15-25 April 2013 at IRCICA’s headquarters in Yıldız Palace, Istanbul to evaluate the works entered in the competition.

The Jury meeting was opened by Dr. Halit Eren, Director General of IRCICA, and continued with the participation of its other members. The Jury’s honorary members, Master Calligrapher Ahmet Ziya İbrahim and Master Calligrapher Hasan Çelebi were also present. Said Kasımoğlu, Secretary of the Competition, and Nurcan Toprak from the Secretariat also participated in the meeting.