Dr. Ramzan bin Abdulla Al Noaimi, Minister of Information, announced the opening of registration to participate in the eighth edition of the “Prime Minister’s Award for Journalism”, during the period April 1-15.
The minister said that this edition of the award coincides with the Silver Jubilee of His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, underscoring the advancements in journalism and media under His Majesty’s leadership, which have significantly contributed to the comprehensive development process.
He added “the Prime Minister’s Award for Journalism has significantly enriched the progress of journalism in the Kingdom of Bahrain since its launch in 2016. It reflects the keen support provided by His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, the Crown Prince and Prime Minister, towards the press and journalists, motivating them to actively contribute to national affairs and express the aspirations of the citizens.”
Dr. Al Noaimi highlighted that this year’s award edition included more categories, with the inclusion of six new awards, increasing the total to ten journalism awards.
The award categories are the Best Column Award, the Best Investigative Journalism Award, the Best Journalistic Interview Award, and the Best Journalistic Photo Award. The new categories are the Best Newspaper Niche Page or Supplement Award, the Best Press Institution’s Website or Electronic Account Award, the Best Visual Journalistic Content Award, the Best Infographic Report Award, the Best University Student Journalism Project Award, and the 2024 Journalism Personality Award.
He added that the eighth edition would include accompanying events on the sidelines of the award ceremony, and forming a general secretariat for the award within the ministry.
The minister said the Journalism Personality Award, a new prestigious award, will be presented annually to a Bahraini journalist in recognition of their significant contributions to Bahraini journalism and made a lasting impact on national media.
He also explained that offering the opportunity for students of journalism and media from universities in Bahrain to participate serves the purpose of supporting young talent, fostering innovation, and promoting the development of this vital sector.
The Prime Minister’s Award for Journalism aimed not only to celebrate and honour journalists for their significant contributions but also to inspire creativity and excellence in producing Bahraini journalistic content. It seeks to elevate competitiveness among media institutions to deliver the best journalistic content, encourage young press and media competencies and pave the way for their advancement, and diversify the innovative and interactive digital content on newspapers’ websites and social media platforms.
The award’s criteria include that the entries should have been published or produced in 2023 in local newspapers, as well as journalism and media colleges and departments in Bahraini universities. Each journalist or press institution is entitled to no more than two entries for each award category, and if the same journalist or institution submits more than two entries, only the first two will be approved.
The conditions also include that journalism and media colleges and departments in Bahraini universities may submit three entries within the Best University Student Journalism Project Award category only.
Participants are not entitled to submit works that have previously won any local or foreign award. Moreover, they shall bear full responsibility for their entries.
The applicant for the award is required to fill the award nomination form available at the Ministry of Information website (www.mia.gov.bh), and include attachments of (original material, link or the PDF material) carrying the names of the journalist and the publication, the date of publication and specifying the award category applying in.
BNA(R)