+972’s Haggai Matar wins journalism award for series on separation wall

By +972 Magazine October 22, 2012 | Edit

+972 Magazine’s Haggai Matar was recently awarded the 2012 Anna Lindh Mediterranean Journalist Award in the Online Media Category for his 12-part series “The Wall, 10 years on,” which was first published on +972.

The series surveys Israel’s separation wall in the West Bank, or what Haggai calls the “biggest, most expensive and most influential construction project in Israel’s history.” Haggai shared the 5,000 euro prize with Sophie Chamas (Lebanon), whose piece also won.

Click here for the entire project: The Wall: 10 years on / Haggai Matar

The award was first launched by the Anna Lindh Foundation in 2006 to recognize the role played by journalists in reporting on issues of cultural diversity, as well as providing informed coverage. The International Jury, headed by French philosopher Edgar Morin and a slew of renowned media experts and intellectuals, chose five winners out of the 403 applications for the categories of print press, television, radio and new media, and a special category.

The series surveys the separation wall’s history; arguments in favor and against its construction; its effects on the Palestinian population, the environment and the peace process; and an analysis of its possible implications on regional politics in years to come. The series was also published in Hebrew on the independent Israeli news site MySay.

Haggai received the award at a ceremony at the Alliance Forum in Berlin, located on the exact route where the Berlin Wall stood just several decades ago.

Here is the full list of winners:

Press – Mona Abouissa (special recognition to Witold Szablowski)
Radio – Sakhr Al Makhadhi, United Kingdom
Television – Silvia Paoro, Spain (special recognition to Karim El Shenaoui, Egypt)
Special Category – Francesca Caferri, Italy
Online – Sophie Chamas, Lebanon and Haggai Matar, Israel
And a special prize to Rima Marrouch, Syria

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