PREVIOUS WINNERS

This is a list of all previous winners of the International Media Awards granted by the International Council for Press and Broadcasting:

2005

The International Media Council Prize:

• Mr Richard Beeston, Diplomatic Editor of the Times. In recognition of his high standards of reporting and the quality of his news analysis, which of itself promotes understanding.
• Mr Ari Rath, former Editor and Managing Director of the Jerusalem Post; currently News Editor of Partners for Peace, the voice of the Copenhagen Group. His award is in recognition of a lifetime of achievement and tireless work for rapprochement and peace.
• Mr Abdul Rahman al Rashed, Head of Al Arabia Satellite News TV, Dubai and former Editor-in-Chief of Al Sharq al Awsat Newspaper. His award was in recognition of his efforts to maintain the highest standards of professional integrity in countering incitement and disinformation.

2006

The Main International Media Council Prize:

• Mr Jihad al Khazen, Editor at Large, Al Hayat Newspaper, for his significant contributions to informed and enlightened debate in the Arab media throughout a long and distinguished career.
• Mr Danny Levi Rubinstein, Haaretz Newspaper, in recognition of his passionate engagement with Arab issues, and uncompromising editorial contributions.
• Mr Peter David, Foreign Editor, The Economist, in recognition of the consistently original, well-sourced, informative Middle East coverage of the Economist.
• Ms Caroline Hawley, BBC Television, in recognition of her sober, balanced and informative reporting from Iraq, and her sensitivity to local culture and concerns.
• Mr Salah Ali Sindi, Editor In Chief, Istithmar Al Arabia Magazine, in recognition of the consistently progressive and enlightened editorial policy of his increasingly influential publication.

The Cutting Edge Prize for an outstanding Journalist:

• Mr Mohamed Chebaro, Al Arabieh
• Mr Yoav Stern, Columnist on Palestinian Affairs, Haaretz Newspaper
• Mr Martin Asser, BBC News Website Correspondent
• Ms Mona Eltahawy, Freelance journalist, Sharq al Awsat columnist
• Ms Jane Kinninmont, Middle East Editor, Business Monitor International

2007

The International Media Council Prize:

• Western Journalist - Mr David Gardner - The Financial Times (Proposer Abigail Fielding-Smith, IB Tauris Books)
• Israeli Journalist - Mr Rafik Halabi - Channel 2 (Proposer June Jacobs, The International Council of Jewish Women)
• Western Journalist - Mr Michael Binyon - The Times(proposer Adel Darwish of the Daily Mail)

The Cutting Edge Prize for an outstanding contribution to Journalism:

• Arab Journalist - Mr Sami Abdul Shafi - The Independent (Proposer Turi Munthe, Rusi)
• Jewish Journalist - Mr Jack Hugi - Maariv, Israel (Proposer Rafik Halabi, Israel)
• Western Journalist - Ms Louisa Brooke, The BBC (Proposer Mike Wooldridge, BBC)

The Patrons Award - a special honorary award for lifetime achievement nominated and chosen by the Patrons and awarded this time to:

• Mr Hassan Soussi, Arab News Network Satellite TV (Proposer Ribal al Assad, Syria)

2008

The Peace Through Media Awards (Honorary) Each winner was presented with an olive tree.

• Yehuda Litani, Editor, Al Usbua, Channel 2 and Columnist, Yedioth Aharanoth and Haaretz, In recognition of his tireless work for rapprochement and peace. Prize presented by Ian Black, Middle East Editor, The Guardian.
• Roula Khalaf, The Financial Times. In recognition of her high standards of reporting and the quality of her news analysis. Prize presented by Ms Annie Henshaw, Director of Olives et al.

Lifetime Achievement Award (Honorary)

• Bernard Josephs, Political Editor, the Jewish Chronicle. In recognition of his efforts to improve understanding of the Middle East as well as his work against disinformation and incitement to hatred. Prize presented by Rabbi Herschel Gluck.

The following winners each received a Cash Prize of 1000 pounds
Special Award for an outstanding contribution to broadcasting

• Damien Charton, France 24, for reporting during fighting in Gaza in 2007. Prize presented by William Morris, Secretary General The Next Century Foundation.
• Zeina Fayadh, Program editor and Presenter, ANB Satellite Television. Prize presented by Mrs Ibtisam Auchi

Cutting Edge Award

• Adel Darwish, columnist, Daily Mail; TV commentator. Prize presented by Louisa Brooke, BBC
• Robert Tait, Iran Correspondent, The Observer. Prize presented by David Gardner, Financial Times.
• Mina al Oraibi, Sharq al Awsat. Prize presented Mrs Ibtisam Auchi.

Breakaway Award

• Sharif Nashashibi, Arab Media Watch, Prize presented by Jihad Al Khazan Editor at large of Al Hayatt Newspaper.
• Wijdan Mahdi Ali Alsalih, columnist in Friendship magazine; freelance journalist based in Basrah. Prize presented by William Morris, Next Century Foundation

2009

Peace Through Media Awards in which seasoned journalists were acknowledged for their outstanding contribution to understanding and awarded with olive trees.

• Dr Badrakhan Al Sindi of Al-Ta'akhi (Iraq), video
• Mike Fealty editor and writer of Slugger O'Toole (Ireland), video
• Paul Staines who blogs under the alias of Guido Fawkes, video
• Mark Urban of the BBC. video

Lifetime Achievement Awards

• Khalid Kashtainy of Sharq Al Awsat, a writer from Iraq who delivered a memorable and entertaining speech video
• Kamran Karadaghi of Al Hayat newspaper, also from Iraq. video

Cutting Edge Awards were granted along with a £1000 cash prize in recognition of high standards of analysis and reporting to break down barriers and promote understanding.

• Oren Yakobovich of B'Tselem's "Shooting Back" programme (Israel) who showed some harrowing footage of abuse of Palestinians by settlers in the West Bank,  video
• Shlomo Eldar of Israeli Channel 10 who has widely been called ‘the man who ended the war', both of whom William Morris (Secretary General of the NCF) described as ‘The conscience of Israel'. video
• Potkin Azarmehr for his Blog that advocates a secular democratic Iran video
• Faisal Abbas of Sharq al Awsat who is also a contributing blogger to the Huffington Post. video
• Jaafar al Ahmar of Al Hayat for his outstanding work. video

Breakaway Award for a promising new broadcaster went to:

• Abdulrahman Abdulla of Al Sharqiya Satellite TV.

Deferred Awards

The following Awards were not presented in previous years and have been postponed until next year. The winners were prevented from leaving the war zones on which they report.

Working in War Zones

• Mr Sami Abdul Shafi, Gaza Correspondent, The Independent and The Guardian.
• Saif Al-Khayat, Correspondent, Elaph, Baghdad.
• Eman Mohammed, photo-text blogging, Gaza
• Adel Zanoon, AFP & ANN, Gaza
• Saad Mohseni, Tolo media, Afghanistan

 2010

Outstanding Contribution to Peace Award

•  MOSSI RAZ & MAYSA SINIORA joint Israeli and Palestinian winners for All For Peace Radio, a joint Israeli-Arab radio station. 

The Peace through Media Award

• IAN BLACK Middle East Editor of the Guardian video
•  SAMIA NAKHOUL is the Reuters Middle East Editor video
• AKIVA ELDAR is the Chief Political Columnist for Haaretz video
• PATRICK COCKBURN, Foreign Correspondent Independent and contributor to London Review of Books video

Outstanding Contribution to Broadcasting Award

• BEN WEDEMAN is CNN’s Senior International Correspondent based in Cairo. video

The Cutting Edge Award:

• ITAI ANGHEL is a senior correspondent for the weekly current affairs program “UVDA” on Israel’s Channel 2 television video
• MOEEN AL HILOU is currently Gaza Producer for Israel's Channel 10 TV, as well as being a director for the Hebrew News Department at Palestine TV video

The Breakaway Award:

• RANJ ALAALDIN is a Middle East political and security risk analyst based at the London School of Economics and Political Science. He writes for the Guardian columnist and numerous other print and online publications. video

Outstanding Contribution to New Media (The Bloggers’ Award)

• BENNY ZIFFER has been the literary editor of Haaretz since 1987. More recently his blogs “Lo BeBeit Sifrenu” and “Dressed to Provoke” have risen to prominence in the Hebrew blogosphere. video

MBI Lifetime Achievement Award

• JIM MUIR is BBC Middle East Correspondent. Having begun his involvement with the region in Beirut in 1975, he is now based there again, focusing on issues both within Lebanon (particularly Hezbollah) and in the wider Middle East, traveling regularly to cover Iraq. video