The General Secretariat of the Arab Journalism Award has called upon all interested journalists to send their entries for participation in the award program in its 9th edition. The last date for receiving entries is January 14.

Muna Bu Samra, Awards Deputy Manager, said: "We expect the number of participants to soar this year, especially in view of the new and thoroughly enhanced structure of the award. The new structure has brought in focus on the youth, opened up participation for online journalism and made important changes to the previous structure. The changes have been welcomed by all."

She drew attention to the increased participation from the North African countries and Syria as opposed to last year, attributing it to the impact of the promotion tour to a number of Arab capitals. The visit to Syria was the first of its kind, meeting with ministers, news agencies, journalists' syndicates and other media entities. The tours also covered Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia.

Bu Samra called upon editors of online and print publications to nominate columnists for the award for best columnists, as well as young journalists within their organizations in order to encourage recognition of their talents and skills.

The General Secretariat of the award has since inception in 1999 made efforts to expand the network of Dubai Press Club by intensive tours to various Arab countries. These tours served the purpose of enhancing participation in the award's different categories.

Bu Samra said the General Secretariat is in the process of constituting the judging committees consisting of more than 60 judges, drawn from the cream of Arab media. Each committee will comprise 5 to 6 persons and their names will not be revealed to each other to maintain highest standards of objectivity. The names of the winners will remain unknown till the distribution ceremony during the Arab Media Forum.