Coinciding with the first day of Ramadan, the contest has a total prize pool of SR12 million ($3.2 million).

An initiative of the General Entertainment Authority, the popular show is broadcast on MBC1 and Shahid digital platform during the holy month.

The first episode featured the 32 contestants from around the world and revisited last year’s winners of the Qur’an recitation and adhan competitions, Younes Gharbi from Morocco, and Mohsen Kara of Turkiye, respectively.

Applications to take part in this year’s contest began rolling in from Jan. 4 and contestants then went through several online stages of evaluation by 120 jury members.

More than 50,000 entrants from 165 countries were whittled down to 50 for the final stage, which is held in Riyadh. Another selection process by the main jury left 32 contestants, 16 for each competition.

Viewers were introduced to this year’s panel of judges which includes the competition’s secretary-general, Dr. Fahd Al-Andas, general supervisor, Sheikh Adil Al-Kalbani, and Moroccan president, Dr. Abdel Rahim Nabulsi.

Bahloul Abu Arqoub from Libya, Meshary Al-Afasy from Kuwait, Ahmed Mansour from Egypt, and Ahmed Nahhas from Saudi Arabia were also present.

“Otr Elkalam” is the first competition to combine Qur’an recitation and adhan and the largest contest of its kind in the world.