TEHRAN- Marking the National Day of Persian Poetry and Literature on September 18, the Saadi Foundation is organizing the international competition "20 Words, One Text" to celebrate the Persian language and literature, engaging Persian learners and enthusiasts worldwide.

According to the Saadi Foundation’s Public Relations Office, Persian learners and enthusiasts globally can compose a short piece using a designated list of words and submit it as a video recording to the event's secretariat, IRNA reported.

Participants are required to craft and recite a Persian text about Iran, Persian poetry, and literature using the following words: history, world, Iran, civilization, culture, art, Persian literature, poet, author, respect, peace, love, freedom, affection, independence, Shahriar, importance, enthusiast, and wish.

Guidelines set by the secretariat state that entries must be recorded vertically and run for a maximum of two minutes in Persian. Participants must say their name and country of residence at the start of the video.

The submission deadline is September 17. Following an evaluation of all entries, five winners will be announced and awarded prizes.

Saadi Foundation was founded in 2012, laying the groundwork for teaching and learning the Persian language worldwide. The foundation has promoted Persian by compiling the methods and standards of teaching and learning the language. In addition to face-to-face and online courses in and from Iran, the foundation has more than 40 centers across the world to teach students the language. 

Now, after more than a decade, the foundation serves as a bridge, connecting non-Iranians to Iranians and Iran, an ancient country whose civilization has always been an important subject of study for orientalists and Iranologists. No study of culture and civilization is possible without knowing the language. 

Persian is an old classical language. It has stood the test of time, especially through its rich literature. Many non-Iranians have developed a love for this more than 1,000-year-old literature and become enthusiastic about learning the language to read masterpieces by poets and authors such as Ferdowsi, Omar Khayyam, Attar of Nishapur, Hafez, Rumi, Abu’l-Fadl Bayhaqi, and Saadi Shirazi in Persian. Saadi Foundation has always been the best place for culture lovers to learn Persian over the past decade.

SS/SAB