Published: 19 February 2016
Region: Worldwide
Maimouna Saleck won the Anna Lindh Mediterranean Journalist Award, for her story on traditional religious schools ‘mahadhras’in Mauritania, published on the Dune Voices website. Maimouna reports for Dune Voices since this multimedia platform was set up by the Media Diversity Institute (MDI) to gather local journalists committed to report on people and marginalised communities in the Sahara.
Maimouna has been awarded in online journalism category of the Anna Lindh Foundation Award. Other winners are India Stoughton from the UK for “Theatre: A cure for Lebanon’s sectarian tensions?” published on Al Jazeera online and Christian Catomeris from France for “Back to Lampedusa”, a video documentary broadcast on SVT1.
The winners were recognised for courageous reporting from the two shores of the Mediterranean, across Europe and the Arab region, in addressing issues related to cultural diversity and cross-cultural dialogue.
Ambassador Hatem Atallah, Executive Director of the Anna Lindh Foundation, said: “This award is a way of supporting the next generation of reporters, because we put media, communication & visibility as highest priority. Speaking to the nominees, Atallah said: “The future is yours and we are all looking forward to you taking forward this great profession of Journalism.”
The Mediterranean Journalist Award aims to reward exceptional journalistic productions and contribute to a better understanding of the diversity of cultures in the Euro-Mediterranean region. It promotes the positive role played by journalists in providing balanced and informed coverage of cultural issues in the region.
“I am particularly pleased when awards such as the Anna Lindh Foundation award go to women journalists. Reporting on marginalised groups in the region can be demanding and it takes great courage and commitment to do what Maimouna and other 60 reporters of Dune Voices do almost every day,” said MDI Executive Director Milica Pesic.
Dune Voices Editor-in-Chief Mourad Sellami said that the award given to Maimouna Saleck represents a great success and recognition of the multimedia website set up less than two years ago.
Dune Voices reports in Arabic and French, while the best articles are translated into English. Diverse in its content and structure, this multimedia platform brings important stories from the heart of the Sahara via its own network of reporters in Libya, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco and Algeria.