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Khayal
Client: Ministry of Education
Sector:
Duration: 4 Months
Industry: Education
Overview
Challenge
Cultivating a culture of creativity and innovation by providing Saudi youth with the means to express their thoughts through artistic expression.
Outcome
Thousands of teens from all over the Kingdom wanted to join in and show the world their talents and the way their minds work — and many did so successfully.
Impact
It was not just the teens that were affected by the competition, but their schools as well — who found pride in their ability to encourage creativity and innovation. This pride could result in the adaptation of schooling systems to become more accepting of different talents.
Context
As Saudi Arabia strives to bring its Vision 2030 to life and move away from its dependency on oil, it focuses its efforts on stimulating the creative minds of its young generations and future innovators. Fostering creativity will inevitably lead to a flourishing of innovative minds — a key ingredient of progression.
According to data from the Global Innovation Index, the Kingdom has been climbing steadily. In 2020, Saudi Arabia went up two places to reach 66th globally on the index, while its rank on the Creative Output Index rose from 86th in 2019 to 69th in 2020 — considerable progress in a short amount of time.
TAM's Approach
The Ministry of Education, in partnership with Salem Bin Mahfouz Foundation, brought into being the national expressive talents competition Khayal ("Imagination") in 2017 and 2018 — as part of the MOE's contribution to Vision 2030's National Transformation Program. TAM handled full competition design, organization, and launch throughout that period.
Research & Identity Design
TAM began preparation in late 2016 — designing the competition's identity and color scheme to represent the two participation methods (writing and drawing). Two focus groups were then conducted: one with education, arts, and literature experts to define challenge topics and awards; and a second with actual middle and high school students to understand their interests, motivation factors, and expectations from Khayal.
Platform & Competition Design
Three challenges were finalized for Saudi middle and high school students — each allowing participants to either write or draw their answers. TAM built a dedicated platform providing all competition information, rules, prizes, and registration — complete with an introductory video.
Awareness & Promotion
TAM promoted the competition with colorful social media posts, influencer content, relatable imagery, inspirational posts, fun polls, and a countdown — all designed to capture teenage attention and drive participation. Combined reach accumulated to tens of millions.
Filtration & Judging
Submissions hit 4,160 artists and 10,890 writers — all sent direct confirmation emails. A filtration system checked rule compliance and completion of all three challenges, advancing 120 youths to the judging phase. A first panel narrowed the field to 28, and a final judging panel selected the 12 best: 3 per category across middle school writers, high school writers, middle school artists, and high school artists.
Public Vote & Winners
The 12 finalists went to a public vote conducted through the competition website. After approximately 20,000 votes, the three high school and three middle school winners were announced — whether artist or writer.
What We Delivered
- Full competition design, identity, and organizational management for 2017 and 2018 editions.
- Two focus groups — one with industry experts, one with target-age students — shaping the competition structure.
- A dedicated competition website with an introductory video, rules, prizes, and registration.
- A targeted teen-facing social media campaign with influencers, polls, and countdown content.
- A filtration and two-stage judging system managing 15,000+ combined submissions.
- A public voting phase reaching 20,000+ votes to determine final winners across four categories.
Impact at a Glance
10,890
young writers submitted their work
4,160
young artists submitted their drawings
120
youths advanced to the judging phase
28
finalists selected by the first judging panel
12
finalists across 4 categories sent to public vote
20,000+
public votes cast for the finalists
6
winners announced across middle and high school
69th
Saudi Arabia's Creative Output Index rank in 2020 — up from 86th in 2019
Lasting Value Created
Khayal gave Saudi youth something rarely offered — a national stage to express themselves creatively and be celebrated for it. With over 15,000 submissions from middle and high school students across the Kingdom, the competition demonstrated that creativity is not rare in Saudi Arabia; it just needs the right platform. Beyond the winners, the competition influenced schools and educators to embrace creative expression more broadly — planting seeds of innovation that will continue to grow with the next generation of Saudi thinkers, designers, and storytellers.