International Islamic University Islamabad (IIUI) organized an award ceremony to honor the outstanding performance of its students who secured the first position in the All Pakistan Prompt Engineering Competition (APPEC), highlighting the university’s academic excellence and leadership in emerging technological fields.
The prize distribution ceremony of APPEC chaired by President IIUI was held at IIUI’s Faisal Masjid Campus in collaboration with Empowerment Through Learning (ETL), a global mentorship and industry-linkage platform promoting technical education and innovation.
The ceremony recognized high-achieving students and celebrated academic distinction in the rapidly growing field of prompt engineering.
The ceremony commenced with a welcome address by Chairperson Department of Software Engineering Dr. Salma Imtiaz, who congratulated the students on their remarkable success. She appreciated the patronage of President IIUI Prof. Dr. Ahmed Saad Alahmed for encouraging academic and innovative initiatives. She also acknowledged the collaborative contributions of ETL, owned by IIUI alumni Dr. Shakeel Muhammad and Irfan Bashir, for partnering with the university in multiple professional learning programs.
Addressing the ceremony, the IIUI President praised the dedication and hard work of students and reaffirmed the university’s commitment to strengthening research culture, innovation and industry collaboration. He emphasized the significance of providing students with exposure to national and industry-level platforms, stating that participation in competitive and collaborative initiatives enhances students’ perspectives, builds professional confidence and equips them to effectively respond to real-world challenges. He further noted that recognition and encouragement play a crucial role in maintaining students’ motivation and enabling them to achieve excellence beyond academic boundaries while contributing to national development.
The APPEC competition witnessed participation of more than 2600 students from across Pakistan. The top five winners included Minahil Nadeem from the Department of Software Engineering, IIUI, who secured the first position, followed by Ibrahim Samad from Presidential Initiative for Artificial Intelligence and Computing, Muhammad Mehdi from FAST Islamabad, Ahsan Khizar from UET Taxila and Muhammad Imran Mian from University of the Punjab, securing second, third, fourth and fifth positions respectively.
The prizes and awards were distributed by the IIUI President among the winning students. The ceremony was attended by ETL representatives including Asim Ajmal, Akbar Chaudhry and Mohsin Siddiqui, along with faculty members Dr. Fauzia Janjua, Dr. Rukhsana Tariq, Dr. Hafiz Ghufran and Dr. Asma Mansoor.
During the ceremony, IIUI students who ranked among the top 20 participants in the first round of APPEC were also awarded certificates by ETL. These included Rameesha Zafar, who secured second position in the first round, and Obaid Saifi, who achieved the 13th overall position.
The ceremony also acknowledged sporting achievements of IIUI students. Ali Satti received gold and bronze medals, Abrar Ullah secured a gold medal, while Abdul Rafay won a bronze medal in different national-level boxing championships.
The event concluded with the inauguration of the Software Engineering Society for Excellence (SENSE) of the Department of Software Engineering.