The national academy for promoting the Dhivehi language in the Maldives, Dhivehi Language Academy has launched a nationwide literary competition.
The competition was conducted over three sessions, featuring three categories: the 40th National Essay Writing Competition for Usthaz Mohamed Jameel Didi Memorial Cup, the 37th National Short Story Writing Competition for Sheikh Malim Moosa Maafaiy Kaleyfaanu Memorial Cup, as well as the 28th National Poetry Competition for Huiy Ali Didi Memorial Cup.
The Academy said the competitions were conducted simultaneously across the Maldives at designated times. The essay writing competition was held from 08:00 am to 10:30 am while the short story writing competition was conducted from 12:00 pm to 14:30 pm. The poetry writing competition took place from 4:30 pm to 6:30 pm.
The Dhivehi Language Academy said schools from all atolls participated in the event. While a total of 77 schools from the atolls took part, 20 schools in the Male’ area also participated in the competition. Students from the atolls competed from their designated participating centres, while Male’ area participants competed from Kalaafaanu School.
In addition, individual participants competed in the competition from venues designated by the Academy based on their current residence as listed on their registration forms.
This year, a total of 1099 entries, including students and private individuals, were submitted for the essay writing competition. While 1006 participants took part in the short story writing competition, 529 participants competed in the poetry sector.
The tournaments were organised and conducted across the country with the support of the Local Government Authority (LGA), city councils, atoll councils and island councils.