By Hassan Cheruppa

Saudi Gazette

JEDDAH — Arpana Melanie and Sneha Sara, both from International Indian School-Jeddah (IISJ) Girls Section, bagged the first and second positions respectively in a written competition on reporting of an event conducted by the Jeddah-based Goodwill Global Initiative (GGI).

Ayesha Ahmad and Mariam, both from Al-Falah Delhi Public School (DPS), shared the third prize while R. Sai Sakthi from Al-Radhwa International School, Yanbu, won a consolation prize after securing a special mention of the jury.

The jury found a total of 14 students, including the winners, among those who proved their excellence in the art of writing and reporting.

They include Ayesha Numa (DPS), Abeer Ashraf (New Al-Wurood International School, Jeddah – NAWIS), Fiza Basharat (Al-Janoub International School, Khamis Mushayt), Hannah Khan (IISJ), Muskar Ravindran (IISJ), Abdullah Hussainy (NAWIS), Sundus Masood (Al-Mawarid International School, Jeddah), Shaheer Ansari and Sadia Omer (both NAWIS).

The contest was held as part of a one-day media and communication workshop titled “Talent Lab 2019” conducted by GGI at the IISJ Boys’ Section auditorium on Nov. 23.

More than 260 students, picked from among 15,000 Indian students of nearly a dozen international schools located in Jeddah, Yanbu, Rahigh and Khamis Mushayt, attended the workshop. As part of the workshop, an outdoor visit to the headquarters of Iqraa Channel was organized.

The performance of a total of 38 students, with the overwhelming majority of them being girls, was rated above average by the three-member jury consisting of prominent media figures. The Jury, headed by Ramnarayan Iyer, executive editor of Saudi Gazette, had senior American media person Dennis Danchik and Saudi Gazette editor Khaled Aftab as its members.

GGI will hold a function to honor the winners and those who turned in an excellent performance in the contest on Feb. 16, according to office bearers of the Initiative.

“The workshop and the contest showed amazing enthusiasm and interest of hundreds of Indian students from the Western region of Saudi Arabia to acquire proficiency in the journalism and communications in the digital world where currently citizen journalism and social media play the most pivotal role in communications,” said Dr. Ismail Maritheri, president of GGI.