TEHRAN – Colombia narrator Mauricio Patino Acevedo has taken first place for recounting the fairy tale “The Wise Prince” at the 24th edition of Iran’s International Storytelling Festival.

The story is based on “The Angry King” by Walter A. Garcia.

The organizer, the Institute for Intellectual Development of Children and Young Adults – Kanoon, announced the winners on the closing day of the event on Thursday in Yazd, the hometown of the renowned children’s book writer, Mehdi Azar Yazdi.

Susan Hayati for “Karim and Master Karim” and Shadi Pakzad for “Very, Very Seriously”, both from Iran, won the award for second and third places respectively.

Malaysian storyteller Nor Azhar Ishak, a major competitor of the previous editions of the festival, won an honorable mention for his story “A Pangolin Story”.
 
In the national competition for adults, Mahdieh Keshvari-Moqaddam for “Cat Beating Stick” won first prize.

Second prize was awarded to Masumeh Shariari for “Ever-Regretful” and Alireza Roshnazamir took third prize for “The Fake Champion”.

Esmat Nasirzadeh was awarded an honorable mention for her performance “Hey! Can We Be Friends?”.

First prize in the national competition for young adults was awarded to Fatemeh Mohammadi for her performance “Ququli”.

“Unfair Verdict” by Arezu Nikzad and “An Angel from the Sky” by Zahra Jamshidi won second and third prizes.

Tarannom Razzaqi won an honorable mention for her performance, “The Tyrant”.

Some narrators were also honored in the side sections of the festival.

“As the most ancient and proficient way to develop concepts, storytelling has its roots in the holy books and different civilizations and cultures,” Kanoon director Hamed Alamati said at the awards ceremony.

He called Azar Yazdi a prominent model for other storytellers and praised his series “Good Stories for Good Children”.

He said that Kanoon chose Yazd as a venue for the festival this year to pay tribute to the children’s writer.

Ten storytellers from across the world, including Deepa Kiran, Divya Sarkar, Grace Wangari, John Mukeni Namai, Sarah Abu-Sharar, Sila Topcam, Suheda Sahin, Mily Ponce and Claudia Montesino, sent the videos of their performances to the festival’s international competition.

Photo: A file photo shows the Colombian storyteller Mauricio Patino Acevedo giving a performance.

MMS/YAW