Excellence personified

THIS WEEK Al-Ahram Weekly and its Editor-in-Chief Hosny Guindy received two prestigious awards in recognition of the newspaper's superior coverage of Egyptian and Middle Eastern events. On Monday, Guindy attended a ceremony at Cairo University to receive a shield and a certificate of merit from the Faculty of Mass Communication applauding the Weekly's "continued input towards society".

Attending the ceremony were Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research Mufid Shehab, Cairo University President Naguib El-Hilali and the Dean of the Faculty of Mass Communication Ali 'Agwa.

Several other media figures and institutions also received awards for their distinguished work in the field. These included writers Ahmed Bahgat, Taher Abu-Zeid, Lam'ie El- Mote'ie, Samiha Dahroug and Farouk Shusha, as well as media organisations like the Egyptian Society for Publicity headed by Hassan Hamdi and the Voice of Arabs radio station.

On Sunday, meanwhile, Prime Minister Atef Ebeid presented Guindy with the Mustafa and Ali Amin Award for Journalism for his role in "developing Al-Ahram Weekly" into a newspaper of stature and note. In his address, Ebeid spoke of press criticism being a highly beneficial societal safeguard. "Criticism prevents mistakes, corrects them when they occur, and keeps public figures in check," noted Ebeid, who has often been the target of harsh media criticism.

Mustafa Amin, co-founder of press giant Akhbar Al-Youm, created the Mustafa and Ali Amin Society for Journalism in 1978. Two other Al-Ahram journalists -- writer Amal Surur and photographer Mohamed Mos'ad -- received awards from the society on Sunday for work published in Nisf Al-Donia magazine. Al-Akhbar's Momtaz El- Qut won the award for best interview (which he conducted with Ebeid) and Naglaa Bedeir took home a prize for the human-interest stories she wrote for Sabah Al-Kheir magazine.

Several prominent actors, including Fouad El-Mohandes and Abdel-Moneim Madbouli, were honoured for their "lifetime work in comedy." Actress Somayya El-Alfi was also presented with an award, as well as some 26 top media students from across the country also received Mustafa and Ali Amin Journalism Awards.

C a p t i o n : Prime Minister Ebeid presenting Guindy with a certificate of merit;
El-Hilali, Shehab, 'Agwa and Guindy at Cairo University;
Shehab, 'Agwa, Hamdi;
Bahgat receiving an award from Shehab & Ahmed Abdel-Fattah;
Mohamed Mos'ad;
Amal Surur

Al-Ahram Weekly Online : 17 - 23 April 2003 (Issue No. 634)
Located at: http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2003/634/eg4.htm