Al Jazeera English crowned ‘Outstanding Digital Team’ at Online Media Awards; Palestine Remix project wins outstanding digital team and best technical innovation; and, Al Jazeera wins best photography award for “Portrait of a yogi”
Al Jazeera English online has won three awards at the prestigious Online Media Awards in London, for Best Technical Innovation, Best Use of Photography and Outstanding Digital Team.
The Best Technical Innovation and Outstanding Digital Team of the Year went to the Palestine Remix project which was a network wide initiative that allowed users to access some of Al Jazeera’s best documentaries on Palestine. The project also had interactive maps and timelines which allow users to truly understand the Palestinian issue and to contextualize it.
Mohammed El-Haddad, Senior Producer and Palestine Remix Technical project lead welcomed the award wins: “Winning two awards for the best digital team and best technical innovation is a huge privilege for Al Jazeera. Palestine Remix weaves the latest HTML5 video technology with informative videos to truly involve our audience in the storytelling process. The interactive team alongside our journalists constantly tries and uses new ways to tell a story. Winning these awards has shown Al Jazeera is ahead of the pack for original journalism and using innovative tools.”
Judged by an independent panel from the British Journalism Review for the outstanding digital team award, Al Jazeera English online beat Vice News, Channel 4 News online, the Huffington Post, the Guardian and BBC News Online. For best technical innovation, Palestine Remix was awarded for demonstrating how technology was applied in a way that is creative and mould-breaking.
Best Use of Photography was given to Al Jazeera for its Portrait of a yogi, which was a photographic exploration of the power of yoga to unite people across cultural and physical divides. The photo gallery was commended for its innovative and dynamic approach to photography which had dramatically added to a user’s experience when visiting the site.
Imad Musa, Head of Online for Al Jazeera English, said the awards were the culmination of years of hard work from members of the entire newsroom: “This recognition by our peers is a testament to Al Jazeera’s efforts to find new ways of storytelling, and to explain complex issues to a global audience. Our team is small but incredibly passionate about what they create, and it’s great that our peers agree that they are the best digital team in the world. We will continue to push the boundaries of original journalism and innovative design.”
The Online Media Awards, now in its fourth year, identify the cleverest, boldest and most original purveyors of news and views from around the world.
Ray Hanania is an award winning political and humor columnist who analyzes American and Middle East politics, and life in general. He is an author of several books.
Hanania covered Chicago Politics and Chicago City Hall from 1976 through 1992 at the Daily Southtown and the Chicago Sun-Times. He began writing in 1975 publishing The Middle Eastern Voice newspaper in Chicago (1975-1977). He later published “The National Arab American Times” newspaper (2004-2007).
Hanania writes weekly columns on Middle East and American Arab issues as Special US Correspondent for the Arab News ArabNews.com, at TheArabDailyNews.com, and at SuburbanChicagoland.com. He has published weekly columns in the Jerusalem Post newspaper, YNetNews.com, Newsday, the Orlando Sentinel, Houston Chronical, and Arlington Heights Daily Herald.
Hanania is the recipient of four (4) Chicago Headline Club “Peter Lisagor Awards” for Column writing. In November 2006, he was named “Best Ethnic American Columnist” by the New American Media. In 2009, Hanania received the prestigious Sigma Delta Chi Award for Writing from the Society of Professional Journalists. He is the recipient of the MT Mehdi Courage in Journalism Award. He was honored for his writing skills with two (2) Chicago Stick-o-Type awards from the Chicago Newspaper Guild. In 1990, Hanania was nominated by the Chicago Sun-Times editors for a Pulitzer Prize for his four-part series on the Palestinian Intifada.
His writings have also been honored by two national Awards from ADC for his writing, and from the National Arab American Journalists Association.
Hanania is the US Special Correspondent for the Arab News Newspaper, covering Middle East and Arab American issues. He writes for the Southwest News newspaper group writing on mainstream American issues.
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