As part of The Third Image Encounter Festival at the French Cultural Centre, Tarek Abdel-Hamid is showing a series of black-and-white photos on middle-class children entitled "Childhood". The exhibition closes on 22 April. Alkarma Edutainment and Sesame Workshop, the producers of "Alam Simsim", are presenting Mrs Suzanne Mubarak with the Sesame Workshop Pioneer Award in recognition of her strong support for the programme, since its launch in 1997. The award ceremony will be part of Alam Simsim's 10th anniversary celebration, during which a two-day, international seminar will be held to address Alam Simsim 's impact on Egypt's children. The reception and award ceremony will be held on 22 April at the Four Seasons Cairo at the Nile Plaza Hotel in Garden City. Among those attending the seminar are businessmen, government and media figures as well as child experts and representatives of the donor organisations. It will be the occasion for disclosing the findings of research undertaken into Alam Simsim and exploring different ways of engaging the private, public, NGO and broadcast sectors in sustaining the initiative. Mrs Mubarak is the first to receive this award honouring figures who have dedicated their life's work to the betterment of children and their families throughout the world. "As we celebrate 10 years of Alam Simsim, I think it is very important that we look at the ways we can build on our successes," says Alkarma Edutainment Chairman Amr Koura. " Alam Simsim has proved that the media is a powerful educational tool and I'm confident that the next ten years will be as good as the first ten." photos: Ayman Barayez Italian Ambassador to Cairo Antonio Badini conferred one of the highest Italian decorations on Moushira Khattab, president of the National Council for Childhood and Motherhood, for her collaboration on carrying out childhood projects financed by Italy. Attending the ceremony were Governor of Menoufiya Hassan Ahmed Hemeida, Ambassador of The Netherlands Tjeerd F de Zwaan, actress Youssra and the Italian ambassador's spouse, the lovely Donia. A couple of days later, at a warm celebration, Badini awarded physicians Ishaq Latif and Soheil Tagher Italy's Commander of the Order of the Star of Italian Solidarity in recognition of their efforts at the Italian hospital Umberto I. The hospital is one of the most successful projects of the Italian community and is the fruit of collaboration between the two countries. It aims at enhancing Italian tourism in Egypt by providing high-quality medial services to Italians. Egyptian fashion designer Hazem Khalil presented his 2007 Summer collection at the Cairo Capital Club. The show featured 30 female gowns and 30 male suits. Among the attendees were media figures Mona Ragab and Afkar El-Kharadli from Al-Ahram, TV presenter Soheir Shalabi and a number of society women such as Bahiya Youssef, Nehad El-Sherif and Sanaa El-Askari. At his Al-Haramlek villa in Saqqara, General Mohsen El-Hamzawi celebrated Easter in the presence of the First Undersecretary at the Peoples' Assembly Magdi Sherif, MP Hisham Mustafa Khalil, tourism expert Niazi Sharabi, actors Ahmed Maher and Ibrahim Youssri, filmmaker Mohamed Mukhtar, his wife actress Rania Youssef, filmmaker Mohamed Abdel-Aziz, actresses Nelly and Maha Osman, musician Hani Mehanna, businesswomen Didi Beibers, Iman Atta, Hala El-Dakhakhni and Intesar Fani. At the Le Meridien Heliopolis, Al-Bian School celebrated the graduation of its latest class of Thanawiya Amma (Secondary School Certificate) students, on which occasion Passant Sayed Galal Issa, the daughter of the general manager of photography at the Al-Ahram Advertisement Department, was singled out for her dress. Sara Abdel-Sattar and Mustafa Tareq were queen and king of the prom, while Assem Ali, Yassin Hussein and Nourhan Nabil were praised for personality, best suit and most gracious conduct, respectively. Ashraf Refaat had the most charming smile. The British Council hosted a reception to celebrate the broadcast of the BBC drama production of Naguib Mahfouz 's The Cairo Trilogy which was premiered on the Egyptian Radio on the evening of 12 April 2007. Produced by John Dryden in partnership with ZAD Productions, the dramatisation of the famous novels, narrated by international actor Omar Sharif, was recorded with an Egyptian cast in Cairo in the summer of 2006. The series has recently been short-listed for the UK Sony Radio Academy Best Drama Production Award. This premiere broadcast of The Cairo Trilogy was made in partnership with the Egyptian Radio. The evening also marked another cause for celebration -- the first anniversary of that partnership. The reception was attended by British Ambassador in Egypt Sir Derek Plumbly, Director of the British Council for the Near East North Africa Sara Ewans, Director of the British Council Paul Smith, head of the Cultural Channel Nabila El-Wasaaie, Manager of the European Network Wafaa Abdel-Hamid and Manager of Musical Programmes Naglaa El-Ghannam, in addition to Amr Waked, who stars in the show. Under the auspices of the head of the General Organisation of Culture Palaces (GOCP) Ahmed Nawwar, the organisation is currently hosting the 10th round of the Amateur Theatre Festival. The festival, running through 23 April, includes several fringe activities, beginning yesterday with a photography exhibition followed by a speech by veteran theatre director and actor Saad Ardash, head of the festival. This year, the festival honours actor Yehia El-Fakharani, the name of late playwright Saadeddin Wahba, actor and director Saad Ardash, actress Soheir El-Morshidi, actors Abdel-Rahman El-Shafie and Hussein Mahran and script writer Youssri El-Guindi. The Society of Writers on Environment and Development (SWED) celebrated its annual party at Pyramiza Hotel in the presence of head of the Egyptian Environmental Affairs Agency (EEAA) Mawaheb Abul-Azm, who was there on behalf of Minister of State for Environmental Affairs Maged George, former minister of environment Mamdouh Riyad and Mona El-Hansi, head of the Egyptian satellite channel of scientific research Al-Manara. Chairman of the board of the society Laila Marmoush pointed out that the celebration honoured environmental experts Mohamed Abdel-Rahman Fawzi and Mohamed El-Zarqa as well as former head of the EEAA Mohamed Khalil. The awards of the society's competition were handed out to environment editors including, among others, Nagwa Tantawi from Al-Osbou', Hazem Nasr from Al-Akhbar and Arabi Salama from the satellite channel Al-Manara. The event closed with an Arabic music recital. More news on the GOCP: In an attempt to rejuvenate cultural activities at Egyptian universities, the GOCP has just approved a full programme including a series of lectures, seminars and cultural evenings to be held at the campuses of Cairo, Ain Shams, Helwan and Al-Azhar. The programme opened yesterday and is running till 25 April.
