Arab Journalism Award to include young talent, on-line media and specialized reporting

The new shape of the award was unveiled in a press conference held by the AJA General Secretariat and addressed by both Khalfan Al Roumi, former Information Minister of the UAE and the Chairman of the AJA Governing Board, Mona Al Marri, AJA Secretary General and Dubai Press Club Chairperson, Dhain Shahin, Editor in Chief, Al Bayan and member of AJA Board and Maryam Bin Fahad, Executive Director, Dubai Press Club.

Speaking at the press conference, Khalfan Al Roumi said that the new structure was put in place as per the vision of H.H. Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, who met with the members of the AJA Governing Body last December and instructed them to revise the award program to keep pace with the fast changing media dynamics.

"It is in the light of experience in running this award program for the past eight years that we brought in the new structure. We left no stone unturned during the preparation for this new phase, consulting experts, seeking recommendations from the media community and travelling around the region to learn about developments,"

Al Roumi pointed out.

Stressing that the award program will undergo changes in future should the circumstances demand it, Mona Al Marri said that all efforts would be expended to make sure that the structure and categories of the AJA would remain fully compatible with the dynamics of the media industry, which is always evolving and changing.

"Since the inception of the award in 2000, the rate of participation in the award grew by a whopping 300%. During this period, more than 100 Arab journalists won the award so far and the total investment in the award program crossed Dhs10m until the completion of the 8th edition," she disclosed.

While the title of the award has been amended to Arab Journalism Award (from the original 'Arab Print Journalism Award') in order to be able to accommodate various aspects of journalism, the logo of the prize has also been redesigned. One of the salient features of the new award structure is the inclusion of on-line journalism for participation in all categories, welcoming entries from on-line media that meet the general requirements for nomination. Investigative Reporting has been revised to make it an umbrella category, comprising well-researched reporting in areas such as politics and economy.

Even as the categories of Journalism for Children, Health Journalism, Environmental Journalism and IT Journalism did not figure in the new structure, they have all been included under a new umbrella category called 'Specialized Journalism,' which is meant to encourage in-depth and erudite, yet lucid and simplified treatment of specialized subjects in all areas, be they the physical sciences, the environment, health or any other topic that the general public should develop an understanding of. The new category for young journalists have been included with a view to not only recognize the up and coming young talent in the region's media, but also to encourage more youngsters to take up journalism as a profession.

As per the new guidelines, all types of newspaper columns can be submitted for consideration in the Newspaper Columns category and could be submitted either by the writers themselves or by organizations that publish them. With a view to tighten the process of judging them entries, it has been stipulated that a journalist can submit entries only in one category, in which he/she is allowed to turn in up to three specimens of work published in the past one year. As for the categories of photo-journalism, cartoons, young talent and newspaper columns, the maximum number of specimens could go up to five. The judging process has been left unchanged, and the category of newspaper columns will be judged by the AJA Governing Board directly.