GCA Winners to be Honored Sunday

Sharjah Media Centre-Sharjah-UAE: December 10, 2013 - The Judging Panel of the Sharjah Government Communication Award (GCA) has announced that winners of this year's GCA will be honored in an official ceremony. The event will be held on Sunday, December  15, 2013, in Al Jawaher Hall, Sharjah. under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Sultan bin Muhammad bin Sultan Al Qasimi, Crown Prince and Deputy Ruler of Sharjah and Chairman of the Sharjah Executive Council.

The announcement was made during the panel's final meeting to determine the winners of the award's various categories according to the criteria of each category and the participants' contribution to the development of the media and communications sector in the GCC and UAE.

The inaugural edition of GCA, which was launched by Sharjah Media Centre (SMC) as a first-of-its-kind award in the region, saw more than 300 entries from 30 government institutions across the UAE, which reflects the keenness of these entities and their employees to reach the standards of excellence in media work.

The judging panel said that many of the submitted entries had emphasized the leading role of government communication professionals in the UAE and GCC in accordance with the message launched by SMC to establish the best professional practices in government communication in the region.

The GCA comprises 11 awards divided into two main groups: the selected categories, which include two awards allocated for the GCC area, and the nominated categories, which comprise nine awards, four of which are dedicated for Sharjah and five allocated to the UAE as a whole.

Osama Samra, Director of SMC, noted that the winners would receive financial rewards totaling USD36,000. Six of the nine nominated categories award their winners with the following: Best Radio Talk Show Award and Best Topical TV Program Award, both welcoming participants from all over the UAE, present the financial prize of USD8,000 each. The Best Investigative Report Award, open for submissions from all over the UAE, and the Best Official Spokesperson Award, for applicants from Sharjah, each offers a reward of USD6,000. The Young Media Person Award, available for applicants from Sharjah, and the Best Journalistic Photo Award, for all UAE-based applicants, each awards its winner with USD4,000.
According to Samra, the process for awarding the various categories of the GCA goes through a number of stages, from receiving entries from institutions and individuals to classifying and evaluating them to announcing the winners in the official ceremony scheduled for this Sunday, December 15.