Al Jazeera English scooped five top prizes and two Highly Commended second places at the 2023 Drum Online Media Awards (OMA). The winners were announced on June 13 at the Drum OMA’s annual awards ceremony in London.
Manager of Al Jazeera English Online, Soraya Salam, won Editorial Executive of the Year for her management of the AJ English website’s breadth and excellence of global news coverage as the site continues to chart unprecedented growth and innovation.
The website’s interactives unit, AJ Labs, won Technological Innovation of the Year for its AI predictor game to see how its AI robot stacked up against actual FIFA World Cup football wins.
And the AJ English Opinions section won in the Best Commentary/Blogging category for excellence in its opinion pieces from experts and emerging global voices.
“We’re proud of our digital teams whose dedication and editorial vision are being rewarded with this well-deserved recognition,” said Mounir Daymi, Al Jazeera’s executive director of Digital.
The Al Jazeera English Channel also scooped two OMA wins. Journalist Ali Rae won Content Creator of the Year for her multi-part series, All Hail the Planet, which takes a deep dive into pressing environmental issues, from the global problem with plastics and the pollution generated from megacities to the effectiveness of carbon footprint offsets.
The multiple-award-winning 101 East team won in the Video Team of the Year category for A Sense of Community, a four-part series looking at how global communities are pulling together in order to adapt to and survive the steep challenges of living in the 21st century.
“These awards are great recognition for our teams who produce such innovative, important and compelling content across all platforms for our global audience,” said Giles Trendle, managing director of Al Jazeera English.
A Highly Commended second place was also awarded to AJ+ in the Editorial Campaign of the Year category for its multi-language coverage of Israeli forces killing of Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh.
On the back of multiple international awards, AJ+ French journalist, Remy Nsabimana, was also conferred a Highly Commended prize for Journalist of the Year.
The Drum Online Media Awards honour original, thought-provoking work across all platforms. They are open to editorial teams and media owners of any size, and recognise impactful and innovative work from around the world.
