Two Editors from Lebanon and South Sudan receive the 2019 Award recognizing exceptional leadership in the newsroom. The 2019 Laureates will be honoured at the 71st WAN-IFRA World News Media Congress and World Editors’ Forum taking place in Glasgow, UK from 1-3 June.
Anna Nimiriano, Editor-in-Chief of the Juba Monitor in South Sudan, has been named the 2019 Africa Laureate. Acil Tabbara, Senior Editor at L’Orient du Jour in Lebanon has been named the 2019 MENA Laureate.
“I’m humbled and grateful for this award. Who would have known that a South Sudanese female journalist, the only female Editor-in-Chief in the country, operating in a difficult conflict zone would be recognised for her work,” said 2019 Africa Laureate Anna Nimiriano."To other female journalists in Africa and around the world, this award is for you.”
On being named a winner, 2019 MENA Laureate Acil Tabbara said: “I dedicate this award to the brave and inspiring journalists who taught me so much, of whom many are women, exceptional women. I would like to tell the young and aspiring journalists: don’t think our profession is in decline, you are more needed than ever today in the Middle East.”
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, Head of language services at BBC World Service, Karima Kamal, columnist and contributing editor for the Egyptian daily Al Masry Al Youm, Pamella Sittoni, Managing Editor for The New Daily Nation, Noura al-Hourani, Lead Arabic Editor at Syria Direct, and Barbara Kaija, Group Editor-in-Chief of the Vision Group.
