These days mark the seventh anniversary of the passing of the martyr Al-Fatih Al-Nimair, who was shot by a treacherous bullet at the Burri Al-Daraysa Square on January 17, 2019. Al-Fatih left us at no more than twenty-five years of age, on the threshold of graduating from the Faculty of Engineering at Sudan University of Science and Technology. During his short life, Al-Fatih carried the seeds of a promising intellectual and cultural project, whose features appeared through several initiatives, including his founding of the Alfa blog, where he published reviews of books, films, and scientific journals. He also joined Goodreads at an early age—before turning seventeen—where his character emerged as that of an active intellectual and a widely read reader.

Within his field of specialization (engineering), Al-Fatih devoted particular attention to alternative energy projects and the possibility of transferring and localizing them in Sudan, seeking to reduce the high cost of electrical energy and improve people’s lives. Building on this legacy, we have chosen the anniversary of his assassination as the date to announce the Al-Fatih Al-Nimair Prize for Culture and Creativity, with the details of the prize and the opening of submissions to be announced on April 6 of this year.

The Al-Fatih Al-Nimair Prize is an initiative aimed at contributing to the free cultural and intellectual movement in Sudan, and at sustaining Al-Fatih’s cultural and intellectual project through Sudanese women and men creators. This initiative comes despite the all-out war waged by Al-Fatih’s killers—and by extension the killers of his brothers and sisters among the nation’s martyrs—against all manifestations of cultural and intellectual life, and against the freedom of scientific research and thought in Sudan. Even so, we continue on Al-Fatih’s path, aligned with free culture, in the belief that culture is resistance and, at its core, seeks to remove injustice and improve people’s lives.

Years ago, the Work Cultural Group initiated this idea, and we at Free Sudan Gazette have recently contributed—together with friends from the Work Cultural Group and other interested parties—to transform the project into an annual cultural event. Through this announcement, we seek partners—individuals or Sudanese institutions—who share the same values and cultural orientations.

For communication, support, and inquiries, please contact Free Sudan Gazette.

January 17, 2026
Al-Fatih Al-Nimair Prize Initiative