The British Consulate in Jerusalem and Al Najah University celebrated the graduation of journalism students in Nablus. The graduation came after training course in investigative reporting funded by the Foreign Office and implemented by the UK Thompson Foundation. The workshops targeted 10 students in TV and 12 in print media. British Consul General Richard Makepeace, University President Dr Rami Hamadallah, University President’s assistance for international affairs Dr. Khairiah Kharouf, British Consulate Communication Manager Fadi Adeeb, Dean of Journalism faculty Dr. Khalil Odeh, and head of journalism department Dr.Abdel Jawad Abdel Jawad in addition to trainers and students attended the celebration.

In his speech Consul General Makepeace said: “This is the fifth year that we run this training in the Palestinian territories, and this year we are proud to extend it to Palestinian students in universities. We have extended the training to two universities in the West Bank; Birzeit and Al Najah and I am sure the trainers told you about the competition which will run this year with a category for youth. The training and competition is part of a project funded by the FCO and is implemented by a well-known UK training organization the Thompson foundation. Investigative reporting is very important and journalists in every country in the world write investigative reports to shed light on some of the key issue that concern the readers and members of the public.

 Its very important to know that every country is unique in the way people react to different stories, but the key thing is to put  the reader in mind, what is relevant to your readers is very important and you should try to determine the responsibility without adding your own opinion. You are all experienced journalism students and you must know that the market is changing. Now you have more young people using the internet and getting stories from all around the world with a tiny click on their computers. So in your future careers, you will be competing against a lot of media and a lot of material. The key thing is to remain focused on what is most interesting and what tells the story in the smallest number of words and the shortest filming time

Finally, I wish you all the luck in your future careers and I encourage you to participate in the competition especially, as now, we have a special category for young people. Last year we were so lucky after 4 Palestinians won the competition against countries like Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and Iraq. We had 2 winners in print media and 2 winners in photojournalism. We want you to make us proud again and win as many places on the competition as possible.

On his part Professor Rami Hamadallah, the Al Najah University President welcomed the British Consul and said: “I am so happy in this day of success, a success in knowledge,literature and culture, and a success in our continuous efforts to serve the community.On this day, we celebrate the graduation of students who participated in the investigative journalism training implemented by the Thompson Foundation which is considered one of the well known centers of excellence in the field of journalism and capacity building of journalists giving them the skills to become experienced in their future work and careers. This training comes as a result of our good relations with international organizations which are experienced in this field, and that care to emphasize the need for professional concepts and techniques, the need of diverse opinions and open mindedness in relation to the local, regional and international developments”.

 

Consul General Richard Makepeace and University President Rami Hamadallah gave out certificate to the participant students during the celebration.

 

 

Notes for Editors

This activity is part of the Inquirer Award program: project aims to raise the professional standard of investigative journalism and to recognize the work of excelling journalists in the region.

This is the fifth year for The Inquirer Award project in the region. The project in 2008expanded in two ways. First: Journalists from Iraq became eligible to compete with their fellow journalists from Syria, Lebanon, Palestine and Jordan. And second: a full category for Photojournalism was introduced in addition to the categories of Print and Television news reporting

The program splits into two parts:

1- Training for journalists in photography, print, broadcast, and electronic media executed by the Thompson Foundation of the Cardiff.

As part of the project, specialized trainers from The Thomson Foundation run a series of training workshops on the skills of investigative reporting as well as practical workshops on photojournalism in all the participating countries.

2 - Competition after the training: the competition is in three categories; print investigative reports, TV investigative reports and photography competition. Print and Television journalists as well as photojournalists from Iraq, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon and Palestine are eligible to compete for The Inquirer Award 2009. The reporter has the freedom to choose the topic of his investigation as long as it is important and relevant to the region and its people. Entries must be in Arabic.

A panel of independent judges will be looking for entries that show comprehensive and thorough research, incisive interviewing techniques, and creative well-constructed writing and presentation. As well as receiving The Inquirer Award 2009, the first place winners in the Television, Print and Photojournalism categories will enjoy an all-expense paid study tour for one week in the UK. The deadline for submitting all entries is 17 December 2009. In 2008, a total of 128 print articles; 20 television reports and 32 photojournalists entered the competition.

Last year Palestine had a big share in the Inquirer Award competition part. Two Palestinian photojournalists from Gaza won first and second places in the Inquirer Award photojournalism competition. The first place winner in the print category was also Palestinian from the west bank (Ibrahim Abu Kamesh working in Al Hayyat Al Jadida newspaper) and the third place winner in print was also from Palestine (from Gaza, Yousef Dohan).

 

Back to newsroom

Back to top