Gaza, 26/5/2016--- In an official Swiss presence, Press House- Palestine honored the winners of the annual media freedom prize 201, during the third anniversary ceremony organized by the organization at Al-Roots Hotel in Gaza city.
The ceremony was attended by the Swiss representative office and a pile of media workers of both gender, writers, intellectuals, and media students & graduates.
During his speech, Belal Jadalla, head of boards, said," The annual prize is awarded to encourage freedom of expression, democracy, societal reconciliation, and national unity, and to highlight the importance of these topics for their impact on the public media speech.
Jadallah sent all thanks and gratitude to the Swiss government , represented by the honor guests – Mr. Yachar Azar, Jona Geith, Deputy Ambassador, for the ongoing support offered to Press House since its establishment till now.
He congratulated all the winners of the annual prize, wishing them and those who didn't get it the best of luck; where he also thanked the judge committee members, who worked with integrity and professionalism when selecting the winners upon the prize standards.
The head of boards recommended that everyone who wants to compete for the prize, should be committed to the topics announced previously, and present something distinctive, that suits the international standards of media work quality.
Worth noting that Press House prize is an annual award, funded by the Norwegian& Swiss Governments, and it comes within Capacity Building Program, implemented by specialized committees.
He added that "Press House" as a name was chosen in 2013 to be non-profit and independent media house and organization, which doesn’t follow any faction. Rather it is concerned about media issues, freedom of expression and Old& Fresh journalist support.
He followed Press House was founded through an initiative of a group of journalists and opinion makers who are concerned with the state of the Palestinian journalism and in realizing democracy.
He said," During the last three years, we have been facing hardships and challenges, but in the same time we have touched the support of big number of media workers and organizations, where we worked upon a clear strategy, within three main programs: Capacity Building, Advocacy& Networking, Media &Documentation."
In his turn, Mr.Yachar Azar, from the Swiss representative office, praised the role taken by Press House by which it contributes to creating Palestinian Media Independence through its activities implemented within Journalists Capacity Building Program.
He asserted that Press House highly succeeded to develop its activities and access to many throughout the three years, proudly followed;" I am proud I am among you in this annual ceremony, and we are so glad of cooperating with Press House.
In his turn, Abdel-Nasser Abu Oun-during his speech representing the judge committee of annual prize- explained that the prize confirms that interest in Media in Palestine has become an organized institutional work, holding lofty objectives of spreading democracy and dissemination and supporting the societal reconciliation, national unity, tolerance, and freedo of expression.
Abu-Oun presented the work of judge committees, where the total of the competing materials for the prize is 39. The organization tried its best not to mention the names of the competitors, especially in the written journalistic story, and the photographs which were easily presented without mentioning the names of their owners.
He pointed out that the four committes were as the following; The best radio report committee, where Ahmad Ouda, Ahmad Zoghbor, Abdel Al-Naser Abu Oun were the judges- The best journalistic story, where Nedal Al-Moghraby, Maha Shahwan, Rasha Abu-Jalal were the judges- The Best TV report& short Video& Film, where the journalists Lana Shahin, Hanan Al-Masrym Safaa Al-Habeel were the judges. (4 ) TV reports, (2) videos and (5) short movies were presented for the competition . The Fourth committee was represented by the photographers Khlil Abu-Hamra& Noman Shtewy, and Samar Abu-Ouf, who evaluated (11) competing photographs.
Abu-Oun asked all journalists to pay attention to such issues that touch the details of our daily lives and affect the society unity in a way that achieves unity and nationalism.
At the end of the ceremony, the names of Press House Prize winners were announced, and award of 500$ for each;
The journalist Mohammad Dawoud for the Best Radio Report
The journalist Fady Al-Hasany for the Best Written Journalistic Story.
The journalist Mohammad Mansour for the Best TV Report.
" Javra" Team for the Best Short Film
The Photographer Fadel Al-Mughary for the Best Journalistic Photo
