On Monday, July 17, 2023, Press House-Palestine announced the winners of its Annual Award for Media Freedom for the year 2023, during a ceremony held in Gaza City.
Press House Annual Award for Media Freedom 2023 was attended by the Norwegian Ambassador to Palestine Ms. Torunn Viste, the Representative of the European Union to Palestine Mr. Sven Kohn Von Burgsdorff, Advisor Mr. Wael Selim representing the Arab Republic of Egypt, Director of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in the Palestinian Territories (OCHA), several media professionals, writers, intellectuals, new journalists and media activists.
Jadallah calls for concerted efforts to defend media freedoms
Belal Jadallah, General Director of Press House, welcomed all the attendees, pointing out that the Press House Annual Award for Media Freedom 2023 comes within the framework of Press House's continuous efforts to promote freedom of opinion and expression in Palestine, support independent media, enhance media professionalism and legal protection for journalists.
Through the presence of the Norwegian Ambassador to Palestine, Ms. Torunn Viste, and her accompanying delegation, Jadallah expressed his gratitude to the Norwegian government, which places a high value on freedom of expression, for continuing to support Palestinian media freedoms, the right to freedom of expression, and their unwavering support for the Palestinian people, Jadallah also welcomed the guests of the ceremony, Mr. Sven burgsdorff, the representative of the European Union in Palestine, and Wael Salim, the representative of the Arab Republic of Egypt.
Jadallah said: "On this occasion, it is also necessary to pay the tribute of appreciation and respect to the Palestinian journalists, the Knights of Word and Image who work around the clock and in all situations, most of which are difficult and risky, in order to convey the full truth at all costs, and so that the honest media message reaches all places, despite the attempts to restrict the Palestinian content and prevent it from reaching the enemies of the truth, as our colleagues in the media have paid and continue to pay a high price for this media struggle, and sometimes led to the fall of some martyrs in the path of media freedom, all greetings to the martyrs of the truth in the ongoing march of media freedoms".
Jadallah stressed that Press House Annual Award for Media Freedom encourages journalists and writers to address critical issues such as freedom of expression, democracy, reconciliation, national unity, tolerance, humanitarian issues, and women and youth issues, as these topics distinguish the award and encourage as many journalists to focus on these important topics that affect the Palestinian media discourse, and certainly has a direct impact on society.
Jadallah added: "Every year we at Press House see great results that come after a professional evaluation that clearly indicates the success of achieving the goal of the annual award, which is to activate the role of media professionals in focusing on such issues, based on the approach of promoting media freedom.
Jadallah continued: "Every year we wish to celebrate Press House Annual Award for media freedom while facing a better reality regarding press and media freedom in Palestine, but violations against press freedom are still ongoing, whether in terms of violations practiced by the Israeli Occupation without being held accountable in multiple and varied forms, aimed at impeding media freedom, or in terms of violations committed internally or in terms of fighting the Palestinian content and restricting access, in clear double standards.
The General Director of Press House stressed that despite the challenges facing press freedom in Palestine, the truth cannot be hidden, no matter what the obstacles are, that fact for which many colleagues were killed and dozens were injured.
Jadallah called for the need for various local and international efforts to defend media freedoms and counter all attempts to silence the voice of truth, once again, calling on the international community to put pressure on the occupation to stop its violations against the press in Palestine, prosecute the murderers of journalists and work to provide them with field protection during their work.
Jadallah expressed his gratitude that Press House annual award for media freedom will honor the international figure who will soon finish his work in Palestine; Mr. Sven Burgsdorff, the Representative of the European Union in Palestine, who spent years in Palestine traveling from place to place, and left a distinctive impact for him and the European Union, as he and many representatives were in many difficult situations, moving among the rubble of wars, among the wounded people in hospitals, wandering in the camps and in all the streets and alleys of the homeland, he cracked on many occasions with the word of truth and was subjected to numerous attacks, but he refused to deviate from the way and said his word strongly, he was such a great friend to Palestine and its people, all greetings to you Mr. Sven and all appreciation for your efforts.
Jadallah congratulated all the winners of the annual award this year, wishing good luck to those who were unlucky and hoping for them to win in the upcoming year.
Jadallah thanked the evaluation committees that worked with professionalism and transparency to select the winners according to the criteria set for the award.
Ambassador of Norway: We are pleased with the partnership with Press House
From her part, the Norwegian Ambassador to Palestine, Ms. Torunn Viste, thanked Press House for organizing the Annual Award for Media Freedom ceremony for the year 2023, as well as for the long-term partnership during which many activities were implemented in difficult conditions.
Viste stressed that freedom of opinion and expression is essential in an effective democracy and is a fundamental right for any citizen to express his opinion and influence the formation of Public Strategies and policies.
She explained that freedom of expression plays a role in shaping policies in general, expressing her pleasure in partnering with Press House and providing the necessary support to journalists working in difficult political conditions.
The Norwegian Ambassador to Palestine pointed out that this project is a rare of its kind as it involves many young journalists who are provided with the necessary skills and the ability to influence and thus enhance their chances of obtaining job opportunities.
Evaluation Committee: The evaluation process was conducted with high integrity and transparency
In her speech on behalf of the evaluation committee of the Press House Annual Award for media freedom for the year 2023, journalist Rasha Abu Jalal confirmed that the evaluation committees were formed by Press House to evaluate the materials for its Annual Award for media freedom, which are for two categories, the written journalistic story category and the photojournalistic category.
She explained that the written journalistic story committee included journalist Issa Sa'adallah, journalist Rasha Abu Jalal and journalist Fadi Al Hassani, while the photojournalistic category committee included journalist No'man Ishtiwi, journalist Hatem Moussa and journalist Mohammed Jadallah.
She said that the evaluation committees worked on evaluating the media materials based on the criteria of Press House award, and according to the announced topics as follows; freedom of expression, democracy, national unity, reconciliation and tolerance, women and youth issues, academic and educational aspect or humanitarian issues.
She pointed out that only one won first place in the category of written journalistic story, as well as in the category of photojournalistic photo.
Abu Jalal continued: "The evaluation sessions of the media materials were held at Press House for one day, as the evaluation committees were held on Sunday, May 28, 2023.
She added: "27 articles were submitted for the written journalistic story category, nine of which were excluded for not meeting the criteria for the competition, while forty-three articles were submitted for the photojournalistic photo category, and eleven of them were excluded for not adhering to the criteria for the competition.
She stressed that the evaluation process was done with integrity, transparency, and high objectivity, as an evaluation model was adopted for each of the award categories and the materials were evaluated for one category from all committee members separately, and then the first materials with the highest ratings were identified, and in case of equal grades for two advanced subjects, the approval of the vote of the committee members on the materials of equal grades is what they refer to.
Abu Jalal pointed out that the members of the committee were not aware of the names of the owners of the media materials submitted for the competition, as the materials were referred to by numbers according to codes developed by Press House to ensure integrity and transparency in the evaluation process.
Press House gave the appreciation award 2023 to the Palestinian artist Fathi Ghaben.
Prior to the announcement of the winners, Press House honored the evaluation committees of the Annual Award for Media Freedom 2023.
Press House announced the names of the winners for the year 2023, as follows;
The Journalistic Story category was won by journalist Noureddine Saleh
The Photojournalistic category was won by journalist Amro Tabash
Honoring the Representative of the European Union
At the end of the ceremony, Press House – Palestine honored the representative of the European Union in the Palestinian Territories, Mr. Sven Kohn Von burgsdorff, who will finish his duties in the next few days, in recognition of the great efforts he has made over the years in Palestine.
Opening of the exhibition 'Women Journalists and Lenses'
After the completion of the Annual Award for media freedom 2023, the exhibition "Women Journalists and Lenses" was opened, which mainly highlights the work and production of women photojournalists in the Gaza Strip, who have done many professional coverages of many events in Gaza, and their photos were widely distributed in Arab and international newspapers.
