Dubai: Gulf News journalists won six awards on Sunday at the annual Dubai Shopping Festival Journalism and Photography Awards.
The awards included best feature, best online feature and best feature by a promising journalist as well as accolades for the Gulf News photo desk, which took both best photographer and runner-up in the category.
Staff reporter Aya Lowe, who won best promising journalist, said the award was a proud moment.
"I'm happy to win this award and thank DSF and Gulf News for giving me the chance. It's been a long and colourful month for the retail sector and it's been interesting reporting on all the new retail angles that DSF brings in," Lowe said.
Other commended Gulf News staff included Business Editor Saifur Rahman and Supplements Editor Keith Fernandez, who won best feature and runner-up respectively, and Web News Editor Florence Pia G. Yu, who won the DSF Editorial Award for Web with her blog, Go With the Flo this DSF.
Overjoyed
Meanwhile, Arshad Ali, who won best photographer for the third year in a row, was overjoyed with the result.
"I am very happy for getting the first prize three years in a row… my win is for Gulf News' honour," he said. Hadrian Hernandez, staff photographer, won second prize in the photography category.
"I would like to thank Dubai Events and Promotions Establishment for giving importance to photography by having this competition every year during DSF and to my company, Gulf News, for encouraging us to compete."
Shaikh Majid Bin Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Chairman of Dubai Culture and Arts Authority, presented the awards to the winners in a ceremony held at The Ritz Carlton hotel, Downtown Dubai on Sunday.
Congratulating the winners of the DSF 2012 Journalism and Photography Awards, Laila Suhail, CEO of Dubai Events and Promotions (DEPE), said the fact that a special event was being held to honour media personnel reflected the importance that DEPE attached to the media.
"We consider them as key stakeholders, who through their writing and photography have expressed and captured the true essence of DSF 2012 over a period of 32 days," she said.
‘Respect and admiration'
"May I stress the pivotal role played by the media in supporting initiatives undertaken by the Government of Dubai like the Dubai Shopping Festival. We at DEPE have the greatest respect and admiration for the media, and we are bound together by a special relationship, as we do our utmost to facilitate their work while they provide coverage."
The Journalism Awards, established since 1996, acknowledges journalists in both English and Arabic across various categories, including Best Feature in Arabic and English, DSF Prolific Writer, Best feature online and Best Pan Arab Feature.
The six categories for this year's Award are Best Feature (local newspapers), Best Feature (regional newspapers), Best Feature (magazines ), Best Feature by a Promising Journalist (category open for journalists under 28 years only), Best Electronic Feature (online portals), and the sixth category — Best Editorial Team Coverage — have been given to the editorial team that present the best and most diversified coverage of DSF 2012 in one newspaper.
