World Association of News Publishers


WAN-IFRA Announces 2018 Laureates of the Women in News Editorial Leadership Award

WAN-IFRA Announces 2018 Laureates of the Women in News Editorial Leadership Award

Paris, France – 2018-05-24

The Women in News Editorial Leadership Award recognises an exemplary contribution of an Editor to her newsroom - and under her leadership the contribution of her newspaper - to society. Editor from Syria and Editor from Uganda receive Award recognizing exceptional leadership in the newsroom.

Barbara Kaija, Group Editor-in-Chief of New Vision Press and Publishing Company Ltd in Uganda, has been named the 2018 Africa Laureate. Noura al Hourani, Lead Arabic Editor at Syria Direct, has been named the 2018 MENA Laureate.

"This acknowledgment by WAN-IFRA is recognition for all women in the media in Africa. My win is a win for all women in the newsrooms at Vision Group and all women in the media in Uganda. I am humbled to join the few women laureates in newsrooms in Africa and I pray that this will grow into a large army and large voice for the voiceless in our society.” said 2018 Africa Laureate Barbara Kaija.

 

On being named a winner, 2018 MENA Laureate Noura al Hourani said:  "Today, we must strive to empower women at all levels and ensure that they are properly represented in leadership roles--politically and professionally, especially in the Middle East. I am incredibly grateful to Syria Direct for providing me with my first opportunity to lead, and I want to thank WAN-IFRA for your support and encouragement for women to be role models."

The Women in News Editorial Leadership Award is part of WAN-IFRA’s Women in News initiative, made possible through support from the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) and the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The Award recognises one Laureate from MENA and one Laureate from Africa, annually.

Previous Laureates include: Toyosi Ogunseye, former Editor of the Sunday Punch in Nigeria, Karima Kamal, columnist and contributing editor for the Egyptian daily Al Masry Al Yom, and Pamella Sittoni,Editor of the International Desk for the Nation Media Group and Managing Editor for The East African.

The 2018 Laureates will be honoured at the WAN-IFRA World News Media Congress and World Editors’ Forum taking place in Estoril-Cascais, Portugal from 6-8 June.  For more on the conference: http://events.wan-ifra.org/events/70th-world-news-media-congress-25th-world-editors-forum/programme

To read more about the 2018 Laureates: http://womeninnews.org/laureates

Online registration for the World News Media Congress is available at: www.wan-ifra.org/durban2017.

 

About WAN-IFRA and Women in News

Women in News (WIN), aims to increase women’s leadership and voices in the news. It does so by equipping women journalists and editors with the skills, strategies, and support networks to take on greater leadership positions within their media. In parallel, WIN partners with media organisations to identify industry-led solutions to close the gender gap in their newsrooms, boardrooms and in the content they produce. www.womeninnews.org

WAN-IFRA is the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers. Its mission is to protect the rights of journalists across the world to operate free media, and provide its members with professional services to help their business prosper in a digital world and perform their crucial role in open societies. It derives its authority from its global network of leading news publishing companies and technology entrepreneurs, and its legitimacy from its 80 member publisher associations representing 18,000 publications in 120 countries. www.wan-ifra.org

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