Maryam Bint Fahad, Executive Director - Dubai Press Club

A few days after the announcement of the closing of participation in the 9th edition of the Arab Journalism Award, Dubai Press Club has unveiled the details of the extent of participation, its geographical distribution and other pointers in the various award categories.

Maryam Bint Fahad, Executive Director, Dubai Press Club, has said that the figures available confirmed the validity and appropriateness of the new structure of the award program.

"The extent of participation in the newly introduced 'young journalist' category proved how important it was. A total of more than 3500 entries from 19 Arab countries have been nominated this year, in addition to participation from Arabic language periodicals from six non-Arab countries. The entries this year represent 13% increase from last year and 339% from the year of the launch of the award," she disclosed.

She said that while 9% of the entries came from online media, the rest was from the print media. "This 9% is significant given that online journalism was introduced into the award program for the first time this year. That 32% of the entries came from women journslists is a welcome development, an increase of 9% from last year," she added.

The largest participation this year also came from Egypt, with 30% of all entries, followed by Saudi Arabia with 11% and the UAE with 10%. Syria and Jordan share the fourth place with 7%. Lebanon maintained the previous year's tally at 6%. Kuwait, which sent last year the third largest number of entries, made it to the sixth place this time with only 5% of the total entries turned in for participation. The Maghreb countries strengthened their participation remarkably this time with the total of entries from Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco taking up 10% of the entries.

The Young Journalist category had the lion's share of the participation, constituting 22% of the entries, followed by Specialised Journalism with 20% and Investigative Journalism with 11%.

The entries will now be handed over to the members of the judging committees, whose details will be kept confidential until the day of the announcement of the award. Once the names of the nominees are finalized by the members of the judging committess, they will be endorsed by the governing board of the award for the final annoucnement of the winners. The award comprises 12 categories.

The General Secretariat of the Arab Journalism Award has called upon all interested journalists to send their entries for participation in the award program in its 9th edition. The last date for receiving entries is January 14.

Muna Bu Samra, Awards Deputy Manager, said: "We expect the number of participants to soar this year, especially in view of the new and thoroughly enhanced structure of the award. The new structure has brought in focus on the youth, opened up participation for online journalism and made important changes to the previous structure. The changes have been welcomed by all."

She drew attention to the increased participation from the North African countries and Syria as opposed to last year, attributing it to the impact of the promotion tour to a number of Arab capitals. The visit to Syria was the first of its kind, meeting with ministers, news agencies, journalists' syndicates and other media entities. The tours also covered Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia.

Bu Samra called upon editors of online and print publications to nominate columnists for the award for best columnists, as well as young journalists within their organizations in order to encourage recognition of their talents and skills.

The General Secretariat of the award has since inception in 1999 made efforts to expand the network of Dubai Press Club by intensive tours to various Arab countries. These tours served the purpose of enhancing participation in the award's different categories.

Bu Samra said the General Secretariat is in the process of constituting the judging committees consisting of more than 60 judges, drawn from the cream of Arab media. Each committee will comprise 5 to 6 persons and their names will not be revealed to each other to maintain highest standards of objectivity. The names of the winners will remain unknown till the distribution ceremony during the Arab Media Forum.
 

The in-depth market research currently underway for the third edition of the Arab Media Outlook, the ground-breaking report on the current state of the Arab media from Dubai Press Club, will cover the changing media consumption habits in four significant media markets in the region - the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Lebanon.

The market research, being done for the first time since the report was launched three years ago, will exhaustively explore the changing media consumption across all platforms; print, online and television. The study, the first of its kind in the region, for the first time, will specifically assess the extent of the influence that increasing broadband penetration and use of social media wield on consumer preferences.

Value Partners, a leading global management consultancy firm with strong experience in telecom and, media, is the Press Club's knowledge partner for the preparation of the report this time. For the market research study, Dubai Press Club has tasked a major international firm to conduct the consumer market research in all the four markets. The results of the research will be woven into the report, which is slated to be released in the first week of February 2010.

Besides the intensive focus on four markets to discern media consumption habits, the report will also include a comprehensive assessment of current media trends and forecasts of media market scenarios in 15 Arab countries. Interviews with media experts in these countries - namely, Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Morocco, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Sudan, Tunisia, the UAE and the Yemen - are scheduled to conclude by the end of November.

Apart from the creation and dissemination of media content in the region, the main thematic focus of the latest edition, the report will also touch upon growth patterns in the media, consolidation and integration of content across diverse platforms, the impact of the burgeoning new media on traditional media models, the role of government institutions and the latest collaborative telecom-media partnerships. Another key area that the report is expected to throw light on is the effect of global economic downturn on the media regionally and globally.

Though the previous edition of the report drew attention to the potential impact of the economic downturn, it stopped short of offering an analysis since the downturn had just started to unfold at that time.

Alongside the Arab Media Forum and Arab Journalism Award, the Arab Media Outlook is part of Dubai Press Club's pioneering initiatives aimed at the overall development of the media sector in the Arab world. The report is considered one of the most reliable sources of authentic information and data on media trends in the Arab world for media persons and experts, public policy experts, governments, students and advertisement firms.

His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of UAE, and Ruler of Dubai, presented the 'Media Personality of the Year' award to Othman Al Omeir for his contribution to the industry in the Arab world.

The honours were presented at the Arab Journalism Award on the concluding day of the Arab Media Forum 2007 at the Madinat Jumairah. The Arab Journalism Awards also honored deserving Arab media personalities and publications in 13 other categories.

Mona Al Marri, Secretary General of the Arab Media Award, said a distinguished panel of judges evaluated the nominees on the criteria of objective and unbiased reporting.

This year's, the AJA posthumously honoured the late Joseph Samaha for his pioneering role in the Arab media. Samaha's daughter, Amina Samaha, received the award from Talal Salman, Editor-in Chief and writer for Al Safer, Lebanon.

The other AJA winners included:
•Best Column in an Arabic daily or weekly publication: Musa'ed Al Saleh, Al Qabas, Kuwait. The award was presented by Hamad bu Emaim, Director General of the Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DCCI).

•Best Business Reporting: Abdul Aziz Al Hindi from 'Magazine'; award was presented by Nasser El Sha'ali, CEO of the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC).

•Best Sports Publication: Super Magazine; award was presented by Ghaith Al Ghaith, Executive Vice President of the Emirates airlines.

•Best Environmental Journalism: Ayman Khalil Rummaneh, Al Khaleej, UAE; award was presented by Sultan bin Sulayem, Chairman of Nakheel.

•Best Interview: Suheir Hilmy, Al Ahram, Egypt; award was presented by Abdullatif Al Sayegh, CEO of Arab Media Group.

•Best Cultural Journalism: Akel Al Oweit, Al Nahar, Lebanon; award was presented by Salaheddine Hafiz, Secretary General of Arab Journalists Association.

•Best Photo Journalism: Mahmoud Ibrahim, Agence France Press; award was presented by Managing Director of HP William Ryder.

•Best IT Technology Report: Abu Al Hajjaj Bashir, Modern Language, Egypt; award was presented by Osman Sultan CEO of du.

•Best Political Journalism: Ghassan Al Shahbani, Al Waqt, Bahrain, award was presented by Najwa Qassem from Al Arabiya news channel.

•Best Caricature: Amer Al Zughby, Akhbar Al Arab, UAE; award was presented by Dr. Amina Al Rustamani, Executive Director, Media, TECOM Investments.

•Best Investigative Journalism: Youssef Sa'ad, Al Khaleej, UAE; award was presented by Bob Johnson, CEO of the Dubai Aerospace (DAE).

•Best Child Journalism (for children under 12 years of age): May Malhas, Al Jazirah (KSA); award was presented by Mohammed Al Hashemi, Executive Chairman of Zabeel Investments.

Dubai Press Club, today announced the support of 11 leading regional and local organisations as sponsors of the Arab Journalism Award and Arab Media Forum, which takes place on 24-25 April, at Madinat Jumeirah, Dubai.

Built around the theme - 'Developing People, Developing Organisations' - this year's Arab Media Forum will bring together key Arab and international media experts and prominent speakers to explore the status of the Arab media.

The Diamond sponsors of the Forum are Dubai Aerospace Enterprise, Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Arab Media Group, Nakheel, Tatweer, Emirates Airline and Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) while the Gold Sponsors include Al Arabiya, Zabeel, Hewlett-Packard and telecommunications provider, du.

Maryam bin Fahad, Events Manager, Dubai Press Club, said: 'We are glad that the Forum has gathered the support and sponsorship of top notch local and regional establishments and authorities.

'The Arab Media Forum partners are a group of high-profile organisations who are industry leaders and align themselves with the values and objectives of the Forum and the Award. The Forum is one of the biggest events of its kind in the Arab media calendar, while the Arab Journalism Award is one of the most coveted media awards in the Middle East and the world.'

Maryam bin Fahad said the support of these renowned companies reflects their commitment to development of the regional media industry and towards the driving theme of progress and reform in the Arab world where the media is expected to play a pivotal role.

'We look forward to the discussions during the Forum to identify ways to boost the development of Arab media. The discussions will be substantiated with case studies and models,' she added.

The AMF Organising Committee has been conducting comprehensive research for the past year on media organisations in key Arab countries to identify the current status and future trends in order to formulate a strategy.

The Arab Media Forum has successfully established itself as one of the most important media events in the region. The high significance of the issues discussed has gained the forum extensive regional and international media visibility.