Middle East journalism innovates across borders, conflict and constraint
Across the Middle East and its diaspora, this year’s winning projects reflect journalism shaped by pressure, constraint and complexity. A common thread runs among the laureates: the meaningful use of audience participation, where citizen-generated content is not only collected but verified, structured and turned into editorial output. Technology is applied with purpose, responding to real constraints. The result is work that delivers measurable impact, from strong engagement to tangible outcomes in people’s lives.
These winners now move on to the WAN-IFRA’s Digital Media Awards Worldwide to compete for global titles against top publishers from Africa, the Americas, APAC, and South Asia. We extend our sincere thanks to our expert jury for their thorough and thoughtful evaluation of this year’s exceptional entries. The final winners will be announced in Marseille at the World News Media Congress 2026.
These are the 2026 winners:
Best News Website or App Relaunch
Project: Saudi Gazzete
Company: Okaz Organisation for Press and Publication, Saudi Arabia
The Saudi Gazette website relaunch successfully transformed one of the kingdom’s oldest English-language newspapers into a high-performance, mobile-first digital platform. The redesign overcame the challenges posed by an outdated CMS and a rigid infrastructure that hindered speed, SEO, and user engagement. By implementing a modular, image-led design and a refined content hierarchy, the project addressed high mobile bounce rates and poor visual clarity that previously drove readers away. The relaunch achieved a 40 percent improvement in load times, a 38 percent increase in mobile session duration, and significantly higher click-through rates across priority sections like Saudi Arabia and World news.
The jury commented: “This is a great digital transformation that is inviting to read and has improved editorial publishing.”
Best in Countering Disinformation
Project: The Smear Campaign Against Daraj
Company: Daraj Media, Lebanon
In response to a multifaceted disinformation campaign designed to cripple independent journalism through legal threats and artificial social media outrage, Daraj executed a strategic counter-response that prioritised transparency over polarisation. The publisher worked with fact-checkers and media freedom organisations like Arab Fact Hub and SKeyes to prove that the “public” backlash was actually a manufactured effort involving AI-generated profiles and coordinated hashtag manipulation. This effort successfully shifted the conversation from baseless accusations of conspiracy to a documented exposé of media weaponisation. This strengthened Daraj’s credibility and secured international solidarity.
The jury described the project as “a compelling benchmark for countering coordinated deception in a low-trust, high-pressure environment.”
Best AI-Driven News Product, Format or Strategy
Project: Ask Aunty Chatbot
Company: Raseef22, Lebanon
Raseef22 developed Ask Aunty, an AI-powered chatbot that provides accessible, accurate, and non-judgmental Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) information to Arabic-speaking communities. The project used large language models trained on twelve years of Raseef22’s editorial archives to create a warm persona that delivers health information in a way that is emotionally and linguistically accessible to marginalised youth and LGBTQ+ communities. The tool explicitly identifies as an AI, not a medical professional, and is programmed to recognise its limitations by redirecting users to verified clinical resources rather than hallucinating medical advice.
The jury lauded the initiative, noting: “The project’s vision of AI as a trusted community information companion offers a meaningful model for public service journalism in emerging markets.”
Best Newsletter
Project: The State of Israel
Company: Haaretz, Israel
The State of Israel is a daily newsletter delivered to Haaretz.com (English Edition) subscribers, offering a concise overview of the most urgent political, social, and security challenges facing the country. Building on the foundation of Israel at War, which served readers during two years of regional conflict, it expands its scope to provide a comprehensive view of Israel’s internal dynamics alongside the external pressures influencing its reality. Written and edited by Haaretz’s senior editors and commentators, and intentionally unsigned, it reflects the publication’s collective editorial voice.
Combining rigorous, fact-based reporting with a clear editorial perspective, it delivers a concise yet in-depth synthesis of the day’s key developments, while encouraging deeper engagement through related articles, podcasts, and reader dialogue. With strong open rates of 48 percent to 51 percent, the newsletter is a robust product that generates high levels of audience engagement.
The jury praised the project, describing it as “a clear, well-designed briefing which goes down well with its audience.”
Best in Audience Engagement & Most Innovative Digital Product
Project: Iran International Telegram bot
Company: Volant Media, United Kingdom
The Iran International Telegram Bot was a chatbot developed to provide a secure, AI-assisted channel where all user-submitted content was verified by Iran International’s journalists, enabling citizen journalists to share real-time footage and reports from a high-risk environment. Launched amid mass protests, it quickly became a critical news-gathering tool, receiving thousands of messages daily from inside Iran.
Following a nationwide internet shutdown, the bot evolved into a communication channel, allowing Iranians abroad to send messages to relatives cut off from the internet, which were broadcast via satellite TV. With one message displayed every 20 seconds during live broadcasts, it transformed news bulletins into a lifeline for separated families.
According to the jury, “The strategic and editorial application of this tool by Iran International is exceptionally innovative, although the Telegram bot itself is not a novel technology. Its adaptation during internet shutdowns into a communication bridge between diaspora families and people inside Iran illustrates significant real-world user impact beyond news gathering. Evidence of sustained verification workflows, security protections, and cross-platform integration positions the product as a strong reference model for participatory journalism in restricted environments.”
Best Use of Audio
Project: Storytime with Zaza and Zuzu
Company: BBC Media Action & Ma’an Network, Palestine
Storytime with Zaza and Zuzu is a co-production of BBC Media Action and The Ma’an Network, a Palestinian media organisation based in the West Bank, developed in response to the humanitarian emergency following the outbreak of war in Gaza. The project provides child-focused educational entertainment and psychosocial support to children aged 5-10 living in an active conflict zone, using audio storytelling to create moments of safety, connection and emotional relief in wartime.
Through 52 carefully designed audio episodes, the project aims to support children’s mental wellbeing, encourage play and imagination, and offer trusted guidance in a context where schooling, routine and traditional support systems have been severely disrupted.
The first series of 52 digital audio episodes, each approximately 15 minutes long, has been implemented in partnership with UNRWA (the UN agency for Palestinians), whose teams on the ground played episodes to over 25,000 children in more than 200 facilitated listening sessions in shelters and other children’s spaces across Gaza.
The jury said: “This is an excellent example of how journalism can connect meaningfully with listeners, and it is especially impactful because of the type of listeners it is reaching: children in Gaza. The episodes are impeccably recorded, with solid scripts, believable children’s voices, and carefully crafted soundscapes.”
Best Use of Video
Project: Samidat: In the Face of War
Company: The New Arab, Egypt
This short documentary explores the lives of Sudanese women who, after fleeing the war in Sudan, are rebuilding their identities and communities through football in Cairo. Moving beyond standard conflict reporting, the film highlights how these women, as seen through the experiences of coach Salma Al Magdi and player Fatma Qaddal, confront legal uncertainty, economic hardship, and systemic discrimination by reclaiming the pitch as a space for resilience. The project challenges the stereotype of refugees as passive victims, instead portraying them as active agents of defiance.
The jury described the work as a “compelling and emotionally resonant angle on refugee resilience.”
Best Emerging News Provider
Project: Fayli Xelk: Community Powered Journalism
Company: AVA Media, Iraq
Fayli Xelk (People’s File) is an emerging community-powered news outlet that sources its reporting directly from people flagging issues in their areas. Backed by AVA Media, it is led by a dedicated team of young creators and editors. Its mission is simple yet powerful: to address critical local issues and amplify people’s concerns, prompting government institutions to respond and resolve them across the Kurdistan Region of Iraq.
In its first year, the project gained significant popularity, with millions of views per episode. Despite challenging conditions, the team investigates, verifies and follows up on cases with authorities until resolution. In a short period, Fayli Xelk has resolved financial issues totalling $500 million USD, benefiting 57,000 families.
The jury highlighted the project’s impact, stating: This represents a compelling model of community-powered accountability journalism operating in a challenging media environment. Its greatest strength is measurable, life-changing impact, not just audience reach, but tangible resolution of civic issues affecting tens of thousands of families, from frozen pensions to locating detained youth abroad. In terms of public value and service to underrepresented communities, this is an exceptional and deserving entry.
Best Data Visualisation
Project: Interactive Map of Israeli Targets in the 12-Day War
Company: Iran International, United Kingdom
This data-driven interactive map of Iran visualises strike locations during the 12-day war, combining citizen-reported information with verified data from multiple sources, including international reporting. At a time when location-specific information was scarce and fragmented, the project provided a comprehensive and accessible view of the conflict. The main editorial challenge was to verify, locate and contextualise events across competing information environments, drawing on citizen-recorded videos, domestic reporting and open-source geospatial data, with each location cross-checked and mapped with geographic coordinates, classification and explanatory context.
Designed for clarity, usability and engagement, the map uses custom visual markers, layered views and filtering tools to help users navigate complex data and explore incidents of interest. Most locations link directly to visual evidence or related reporting, while additional layers provide strategic context, including the proximity of military and sensitive sites to civilian infrastructure. By integrating citizen evidence with editorial verification, the project transforms raw information into accessible storytelling, offering a transparent and robust visualisation that helps audiences understand the distribution and significance of attacks while countering misinformation.
The jury commented: “Thorough geolocation of categorised information with an interesting link to Google Maps. The simple and brief narrative allows the user to freely explore the content.”
Best Marketing Campaign for a News Brand
Project: Woman, Life, Freedom
Company: Volant Media, United Kingdom
Iran International marked the third anniversary of Mahsa Amini’s death with a participatory visual campaign that transformed remembrance into collective action. At its centre was an installation of one thousand hand-folded origami birds, each inscribed with a victim’s name and arranged to form “Woman, Life, Freedom” in Farsi. Captured in a commemorative film and amplified across broadcast and digital platforms, the campaign invited audiences to fold and share their own origami creations using #MahsaBird.
Designed for a context where open dissent carries significant risk, the campaign offered a simple and safe act of remembrance for audiences inside Iran and across the diaspora. Using only paper, light and human hands, and supported by lightweight digital formats, it generated widespread user participation and turned individual expressions of grief into visible solidarity.
The jury praised the project, stating: “A powerful uplift, translating its mission into a safe, participatory act of remembrance under repression. Deeply inspiring.”
