KUWAIT: Kuwaiti photographers won awards for distinguished pictures and shooting, while Kuwait Red Crescent Society added to its long record of humanitarian achievements in 2020. The following are highlights of such accomplishments, also chronicling awards won by the Kuwaiti inventor Jenan Al-Shehab in the passing year:

Feb 16: The Central Blood Bank of Kuwait was recognized by the American Association of Blood Banks (AABB), the first Arab body to win this recognition.
June 7: Kuwaiti photographer Talal Al-Rabah won the top award of Hamdan bin Mohammad Al-Maktoum for optical photographing for his shot, "the North Pole King."

July 7: KFAED Director-General Abdulatif Al-Hamad and the Kuwaiti astronomer Saleh Al-Ojairi won KFAS Award for their contributions locally, regionally, and internationally.
July 26: Kuwait Red Crescent Society distributed Eid clothes to 5,000 limited-income families.

Aug 4: Kuwait Red Crescent Society launched a donation campaign to aid Lebanon in aftermath of the Beirut port blast.
Aug 6: Kuwait Red Crescent Society dispatched a planeload of relief supplies to Lebanon in aftermath of the Beirut port bombing.
Aug 15: The Kuwaiti photographer Majed Al-Zuabi won the Grand Award in the international birds photography competition.

Aug 19: Kuwait Alms House donated medical equipment to Azerbaijan.
Aug 29: The Kuwaiti engineer Jenan Al-Shehab won two awards and the gold medal at Toronto inventions exhibition for inventing electromagnetic cells for wireless power transmission to charge electronic devices.
Sept 7: Kuwait Red Crescent Society opened a field hospital in Hadramot, Yemen.

Sept 10: Kuwait Red Crescent Society sent a convoy of relief supplies to Lebanon following the explosion that ripped through Beirut port.
Nov 24: Minister of Public Works Rana Al-Fares declared the start of receiving citizens' request online for houses' construction in Al-Mutlaa.
Nov 25: Kuwait won the Arab League's government distinctiveness award and Kuwait Municipality Director-General was awarded as the top municipal chief in the Arab world.

Dec 4: Member of the teaching staff at the Public Authority for Applied Education and Training (PAAET) Dr Salah Al-Ali won the gold medal for the patent office candidates of the GCC at the Seoul International Invention Fair (SIIF) 2020 for a device that avoids the sudden death of children during sleep.
Dec 11: Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (IESCO) registered four sites in Kuwait including Kuwait Towers, Sheikh Abdullah Al-Jaber castle, Boubyan Island, and Mubarak Al-Khabir marine reserve in the initial list of 44 Islamic cultural sites in six countries.

Dec 16: UNESCO included Kuwait Al-Sadu weaving in its list of Intangible Heritage.
Dec 16: UN Environment Programme (UNEP) announced that Kuwaiti engineer Fatmah Al-Zalzalah won the champions of the earth award for 2020. The list of winners included seven other individuals.
Dec 17: Kuwaiti engineer Jenan Al-Shehab won several accolades at Taiwan's Kaohsiung International Invention and Design EXPO (KIDE) 2020. - KUNA