JEDDAH, 11 July 2007 — Winners of a journalism competition acknowledging the best media coverage of the annual Jeddah Economic Forum, which took place last February, were announced yesterday at a press conference held at the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry (JCCI).
Out of 99 participating journalists, two journalists — Hussein Shobokshi and Abdullah Al-Yami — jointly came first after being awarded the same number of points by judges. The top prize of SR100,000 was divided between the two journalists.
Shobokshi was awarded for his coverage of the JEF on his economic program “The Report,” which is aired on Al-Arabiyah Channel. Al-Yami was awarded for a newspaper report in the Al-Madinah newspaper. Mahmoud Sabbagh from Al-Watan newspaper came third, followed jointly by Al-Riyadh newspaper reporter Omar Edrees and Asharq Al-Awsat’s Ali Al-Mutai.
Journalists were judged on presentation, objectivity, credibility, skill, and whether the piece kept to the aims of the forum.
The head of the judging committee was Abdulwahab Al-Fayez, editor in chief of Al-Eqtisadiah. Its vice-president was Mohamed Sadiq Diab, editor in chief of the Al-Haj magazine and a columnist in Asharq Al-Awsat. Other members of the committee included Yasin Al-Jifri, professor of economics at the King Abdul Aziz University (KAU), Khaled Darraj, managing editor of the Al-Riyadh newspaper, Manal Al-Sharif, manager of the women’s department at the Al-Madinah newspaper, and Mustafa Sabri, general secretary of JCCI. Meanwhile, Chairman of the JCCI, Sheikh Saleh Al-Turki, revealed at the event that a special press club would be set up for journalists to share their opinions on economy-related matters. Al-Turki said the club would either be located at the JCCI building or at the Jeddah Exhibition Center.
The press conference also announced the beginning of the eighth Jeddah Summer Festival, which is scheduled to begin tomorrow and which will see a total of 226 events.
“The events are for all members of the family; not only children... Youth will be taken care of as there will be many football competitions, marathons and artistic seminars,” said Al-Turki.
