Hawzah News Agency - (Johannesburg - South Africa) - The Islamic Center for Africa in Johannesburg will hold an international poetry competition in Persian and English languages on the third Imam of Shia, Imam Hossein (AS), and issues related to his uprising 14 centuries ago.

The ICFA has launched an international poetry award to honor two winners who compose the best poems in Persian and English on Imam Hossein and his uprising.

Each work will receive the International Grand Poetry Award worth €10,000, ICFA Director Seyed Abdollah Hosseini announced on Thursday.

“Due to the fact that the award will also be for poetry in the English language, the headquarters of the award is located in South Africa,” he said.

Each winner will also receive the trophy of the Poet of the Year, and the centers will cover all the cost of their travel to Karbala, which hosts the holy shrines Imam Hossein (AS) and his brother, Hazrat Abbas (AS).

The two winners will work as the Ahl al-Bayt ambassadors during the year.

A jury of top experts on Persian and English literature also will pick ten other top works, which will receive honorable mentions and their composers will also pay visits to the Muslims' holy shrines at the organizers’ expense.

The jury will select the winners from a long list of 100 entries chosen from among the submissions. The 100 poems are scheduled to be published in a book. In addition the winning works will be published in several languages.

Only those compositions that have not been published audio-visually are allowed to compete in this contest, and the deadlines for Persian and English categories are October 8 and 20 respectively.

Poets can send their artworks to the secretariat of the competition using these links:

Telegram link for Persian poems and contact with the secretary of the competition:

@jayezai20

Telegram link for English Poems:

@grandpoetryaward

Telegram link for information on Persian section:

https://t.me/joinchat/Bk4guRmTthDuqXl-hiGJQA

Telegram link for information on English section:

https://t.me/joinchat/Bk4guUSbGqRpNTXLalx6ZA

WhatsApp link:

https://chat.whatsapp.com/Kj72hiZNPblFYlUwWvDVN4

Instagram link:

www.instagram.com/jayezai20