"Best Opinion Article"

Ethar El-Katatney

The Egyptian Ethar El-Katatney was awarded the prize in the category of "Best Opinion Article" for her article “The Veiled Muslim Bogeygirl,”published in English on BikyaMasr, online news website in Egypt (20/1/2011).

Ethar El-Katatney is an award-winning journalist, a blogger, and an author. She has worked as a staff writer at Egypt Today, the leading current affairs magazine in the Middle East, and at its sister magazine Business Today Egypt. She has also been a contributor at Muslimah Media Watch, a website that critiques how Muslim women are represented in the media and popular culture.

El-Katatney's story, "The Business of Islam", won the Economics and Business award in the CNN MultiChoice African Journalist of the Year 2009 award, making her the first Egyptian to win this prestigious award. In 2009 she was also awarded the Anna Lindh Euro-Mediterranean Journalism Award for her story "Identity Crisis 101". Her first book, "Forty Days and Forty Nights in Yemen," was published in May 2010. In June 2011, she will graduate with an MBA and an MA in television and digital journalism from the American University in Cairo.

"Best Investigative Report"

Habib Battah

The Lebanese Habib Battah was awarded the first prize in the category of "Best Investigative Report" for his article “Return to the Valley of Jews,” published on Qatari Al-Jazeera English website (16/12/2010).

Habib Battah is an award-winning print and multimedia journalist and commentator, and has worked for many international and Arab news organisations over the last eight years including CNN International, BBC World Service, Al Jazeera and Variety. He covers culture, politics, entertainment and business, and has interviewed a wide range of personalities including Ted Koppel, Noam Chomsky, Dan Rather, Snoop Dogg, Lebanon’s then Prime Minister Fouad Siniora as well as CEOs of many international enterprises.

He was also granted the second prize of the 2006 edition of the Samir Kassir Award for Freedom of the Press for his article “For an election reality check, visit your local mukhtar," published on 18 June 2005 in The Daily Star.