The judging committee for the ‘Kamil Al-Maqhur Short Story Award’ announced the winner of the 2025 edition: a writer for his story, which captured the committee’s attention with its artistic depth and cohesive narrative structure.
The committee clarified that the winning text was distinguished by its refined literary language and artistic vision, which addressed the theme of time and human existence through an innovative symbolic style, with a clear ability for condensation and focus on the psychological and emotional details of the characters.
About the winning story, ‘The Time Seller’
In its artistic rationale, the judging committee explained that the story belongs to symbolic fantasy and is based on a clear duality represented by humanity’s pursuit of immortality and its helplessness against the passage of time. The evocation of the character of Gilgamesh and its mythical framework provided an intelligent structure for posing a deep existential question: Do we own time, or does time own us?
The text concludes that true immortality is not achieved through the body, but through the valuable impact and works a person accomplishes. The committee also praised the story’s cohesive language, its creative imagination, and the skillful use of symbolism, particularly presenting time as a commodity that can be bought and acquired, within a carefully crafted narrative vision supported by extensive cultural knowledge.
While congratulating the writer on this well-deserved win, the award also commends all the stories that made the shortlist and the advanced artistic level reflected in their texts. Thanks and appreciation were also extended to all the participating writers for the creative contributions that enriched this year’s edition and contributed to its success.
