4 Arabs, 3 Americans named King Faisal Prize winners

By Tousif Khan - Wed Jan 18, 2:08 am

RIYADH: Prince Khaled Al-Faisal, director general of the King Faisal Foundation (KFF), announced on Monday night winners of the 2012 King Faisal International Prize (KFIP) at a high-profile event held in Riyadh.

A distinguished gathering, including princes, high-ranking Saudi officials, diplomats and other prominent personalities were present on the occasion.

The award for Service to Islam was presented to leading Saudi philanthropist Sheikh Sulaiman Al-Rajhi in recognition of his outstanding achievements, including an endowment of more than half of his personal wealth for humanitarian purposes.

The Prize for Islamic Studies was won by Saudi professor Adnaan Mohammed Al-Wazzan, a former president of Umm Al-Qura University, in recognition of his highly authoritative Arabic encyclopedia of human rights in Islam and its attributes in Saudi Arabia.

In the Arabic Language and Literature category (Computer Processing of the Arabic Language: Individual and Institutional Endeavors), the prize was shared jointly by professor Ali Hilmi Ahmed Mousa of Ain Shams University (Cairo) and Nabil Ali Mohamed, a corporate consultant at Advanced Arabic Systems, Cairo. Both were from Egypt.

The Prize for Medicine (Minimal Invasive Fetal Management) was awarded jointly to US professors Richard L. Berkowitz and James Bruce Bussel, while in the Science category (Biology), the recipient was professor Alexander Varshavsky, also from the US.

Each of the five prizes consists of a certificate hand written in Diwani calligraphy summarizing the laureate’s work; a commemorative 24 carat 200-gram gold medal uniquely cast for each prize; and a cash endowment of SR750,000 ($200,000). Co-winners in any category share the monetary grant. The prizes will be awarded during a ceremony to be held in Riyadh under the patronage of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah.