Press Releases

2nd Annual Al-Awda Award Spotlights Palestinian Talent 60 Years into the Nakba (List of winners)

For Immediate Release

No. (E/011/08)

5 May 2008


 

Bethlehem, Palestine. BADIL is proud to announce the winners of the 2008 Al-Awda Award, the second annual public competition of its kind. The award aims to foster Palestinian talent and creativity and to raise the profile of the Palestinian Nakba and the right of all forcibly displaced Palestinians to return to their homes and lands.

 

The 18 Palestinian winners of the 2008 Award come from the 1967 occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip, Israel, Syria and Germany. They were honored on Saturday, 3 May, in two parallel and satellite-linked Awda Award Festivals in the West Bank (Ramallah Cultural Palace) and the Gaza Strip (Red Crescent Hall, Khan Younis) which were attended by an enthusiastic audience of over 1,500 people from all over Palestine. The awards were granted by leaders of most of the Palestinian political parties; while the juries were composed of internationally renowned Palestinian artists, film-makers, academics, journalists and authors. The stage was also graced by the renowned Firqet al-Funoun al-Sha'abiyya (the Palestinian Popular Arts Troupe), which opened and closed the events with a spectacular performance that brought together Palestinian folklore with interpretive dance expressing the story of Palestine in a mesmerizing display of color, costume, movement and beauty.

 

The 2008 Award Winners are:

 

Category: Nakba Commemoration Poster

1st prize: Ashraf Ghurayyib (1975), arts teacher in Gaza;

2nd prize: Khaldoon Khatib (1984), graphic designer in Hebron;

3rd prize: Anan Zurba (1984), arts teacher in Nablus.

 

Category: Documentary Films

1st prizes to:

Hesham Zuraiq (1968), from Nazareth and working as engineer in Germany, for the film:

 Abna' Eilaboun (“Sons of Eilaboun”); and,

Mohammad Jabr (1982), director of a media training center in Ramallah, for the film:

Lu'bat Yaffa (“The Yaffa Game”);

2nd prize: Ahmad Shehadeh (1988), cameraman with a Palestinian news agency in Gaza, for the film:

Fi Tafasil Qussah (“Details of a Story”);

3rd prize: Ameer Ahmaru (1976), TV producer in Hebron, for the film:

Laji' Ila Watani (“Refuge in my Homeland”).

 

Category: Children's Stories

1st prize: Ahlam Mohammad Bisharat (1975), school teacher and freelance writer from Toubas (northern West Bank, for the story Shubbak Al-Zinko (“The Zinc Window”):

2nd prize: Maysoon Asadi (1963), director of an information center and freelance writer in Haifa, for the story Bayt Buyut (“House of Houses”);

3rd prize: Dima Sahweel (1974), bank employee and freelance writer in Ramallah, for the story 'Ulbat Alwan (“Box of Colours”).

 

Category: Oral History

1st prize: Rasha Abu Zaitun (1982), graduate of social sciences from Tulkarem, for her research of the Nakba in the village of Sabbareen;

2nd prize: Abdel Hamid Al-Farani (1968), lecturer at the Islamic University of Gaza, for his research of the Nakba in the village of Hamama;

3rd prize: Anwar Mar'i (1980), graduate of social sciences from Tulkarem, for his research of the Nakba in the village of Abu Kishek.

 

Category: Written Journalism

1st prize: Anas Abu Rahmah (1987), student of journalism from the village of Bil'in (Ramallah) for the piece Al-Mithya' (“The Radio”);

2nd prize: Abdel Hakim Abu Jamous f(1966), director of department with the Palestinian Ministry of Higher Education in Nablus, for the piece Sir Al-Lawn Al-Azraq (“The Secret of the Color Blue”);

3rd prize: Ahmad Jaber (1969), journalist and writer in Syria, for the piece Lam Al-Shaml wa-Al-Nawm 'ala Hulm Al-'Awda (“Family Reunification and Sleeping on the Dream of Return”).

 

Category: Research Papers

1st prizes to:

Muna Nabulsi f(1980), school teacher in Jerusalem, for the study: Mustajaddat Wad'a Al-Laji'in Al-Filastininyin Fi-Al-Iraq (“Developments in the Case of Palestinian Refugees in Iraq”); and,

Maliha Al-Maslamani (1977), Jerusalem, PhD candidate in fine arts in Cairo, for the study Haq Al-Awda fi Karikateir Naji Al-Ali (“The Right of Return in the Caricatures of Naji Al-Ali”).

Note: No second and third prizes were awarded by the independent jury in this category because entries failed to meet academic standards.

 

Badil has committed to disseminate the works of these Awda Award winners through various media. To date, the winning poster has been adopted by the Nakba Commemoration Committee as the official poster of the Nakba-60 campaign and the winning documentaries will be broadcast on Arab satellite channels on 8 May. Those interested should continue to check our website as we publish the pieces of written journalism, the children's stories, the research papers, and the oral history works.

 

We also call on artists, writers, and researchers to prepare themselves for next year's competition, and thank all of those who participated in the one this year, including juries, awards committee, and of course the brilliant Palestinian participants themselves who have proved once again that the spirit of talent and creativity can not be caged by any oppressor.

 

 


Winning and Honored Posters can be found: http://www.badil.org/awda-award/posters/winners.htm

Pictures of the event in Ramallah and Khan Younis can be found at: http://www.badil.org/awda-award/images/album2008.htm

The 2008 Awda Award Festival was organized by BADIL as part of this year's Nakba-60 commemoration events.