DUBAI // Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President and Ruler of Dubai, honoured the winners of the 14th edition of the Arab Journalism Award in a ceremony at the Arab Media Forum in Dubai on Wednesday night.
Mohammed Al Hammadi, editor-in-chief of Al Ittihad – the Arabic-language sister paper of The National – won the Smart Journalism Award, while Khorsheed Ahmed of Al Ittihad won the Specialised Journalism Award, the state news agency, Wam, reported.
Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed, Crown Prince of Dubai, and other UAE officials were also present at the awards ceremony at the close of the forum.
Sheikh Mohammed presented the Media Personality of the Year Award to Sheikh Waleed Al Ibrahim, founder and chairman of MBC Group, for his efforts towards enriching the Arab media landscape and his long career.
Khalid Al Kashtini, a prominent Iraqi writer and journalist, received the Best Newspaper Column Award from Sheikh Hamdan for using satire to address social and political issues.
Other award winners were: Sana Boukhlies of Almaghrib Today newspaper (Morocco), Humanitarian Journalism Award; Rohi Darabeh and Mohammed Darbeh of Atlas Sport (Palestine), Sport Journalism Award; Ashraf Abu Al Yazeed of Al Arabi Magazine (Kuwait), Cultural Journalism Award; Azza Maghazi of Al-Shorouk newspaper (Egypt), Investigative Reporting Award; Alyaumn newspaper (Saudi Arabia), Economic Journalism Award; Firas Al Kilani of Al Hayat newspaper, Political Journalism Award; Mona Kadkour of Al Watan newspaper (Egypt), Press Interviews Journalism Award; Yasser Al Ahmad of Makkah newspaper (Saudi Arabia), Outstanding Cartoon Works Award; Majdi Ashtiyeh of the Associated Press, Photo Journalism Award.
The Young Journalist Award winners were: Nathalie Eklimos of Aljoumhouria newspaper (Lebanon), Rana Al Sharafi of Felesteen newspaper (Palestine), and Maryam Bouzachan of Al-Akhbar newspaper (Morocco).
A poem by Sheikh Mohammed, “A Message to the Nation”, was sung by Tunisian singers Lotfi Bouchnak and Latifa. The poem is about the difficulties currently faced by the Arab world.
newsdesk@thenational.ae
