The AWMW in UK Congratulates the Arab Women Winners of Anna Lindh Journalist Award 2011
Six journalists received the Mediterranean’s leading prize for reporting across cultures and two received honorary awards. Three were Arab Women and one from UK
The names of the winners of the Mediterranean, Anna Lindh Journalist Award for the 2011 edition were announced at the Principality of Monaco by an International Jury headed by Edgar Morin. The awards that were presented by Prince Albert II brought together media and civil society from across the two shores of the Mediterranean region.
The Honorary Awards went to the Palestinian blogger, Asmaa El Ghoul from Gaza, who was awarded for her commitment to freedom of expression and her courage in facing repression, and the second Honorary Award went for Mohamed El-Dahshan, the Egyptian writer who was at the forefront of the Egyptian revolution. El-Dahshan was awarded for his exceptional writings on social change in Egypt published in many international publications, making the voice of young Egyptian activists heard all over the world.
The Special Award on Democracy and Social Change went to : Iason Athanasiadis from (Greece) for his series of articles “Revolution: Game Over?” published in El Majalla and for Abdel Aziz Hali from (Tunisia) for his series of articles “Once upon a time, there was two revolutions” published in La Presse.
The Press Category Award went to, Rachel Shabi from (UK), for her article “We were looking for a nice, peaceful place near Jerusalem” published in The Guardian, and to Mekioussa Chekir from (Algeria) for her article “Tolerance and religious unanimity” published in La Tribune.
While the Television Category went to Nada Abdel Samad for her documentary “The Jews of Lebanon” broadcasted on BBC Arabic. And The Radio Category Award went for Andrei Popov, Ileana Taroi and Valentina Dumitrescu from Romania for their co-production “When Romeo meets Julieta” on Société Roumaine de Radiodiffusion.
Iqbal Tamimi, Director of Arab Women Media Watch in UK said: “We are extremely delighted that five of the awards went for Arab journalists, three of which went for women. Besides the fact that one of the two honorary awards went for a Palestinian woman, a blogger from Gaza while the second honorary award went for an Egyptian Blogger. This reflects the growing importance of women’s role in Middle Eastern media and highlights the important and complementary role of online journalism and different new media tools to main stream journalism, especially during conflicts, unrest and under extremely difficult conditions.”
The Award Jury which was chaired this year by the renowned sociologist Edgar Morin and presided by André Azoulay, President of the Anna Lindh Foundation, comprised Giselle Khoury from Al Arabiya Television in Dubai, Naglaa El Emary from BBC in Egypt, Alessandra Paradisi from COPEAM Audiovisual Network in Rome, Maria Barradas from Euronews in France and Donatella della Ratta from Common Creatives in Rome.
