In 2008 and 2009, World Press Photo organized a region-wide training program for photojournalists from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). A combination of online and face-to-face workshops offered 15 photographers impulse in developing photojournalistic, editing and post-production skills.
The first part of the program, carried out in cooperation with the London College of Communications, consisted of a 16-week online course, given in Arabic by two local tutors - Aladin Abdel Naby (Egypt) and Rula Halawani (Palestinian Territories). Next came a week-long workshop in Istanbul, in which the participants identified and shot picture stories. The five most promising candidates were invited to a follow-up course on storytelling, ending in a further workshop in April 2010. Additionally, a workshop was given for ten photo editors in the region on picture editing and picture management
An independent committee comprising Ayperi Ecer (Sweden/Turkey), vice-president pictures at Reuters; Gary Knight (UK), art director of Dispatches quarterly and photographer with VII Photo Agency, and Andrei Polikanov (Russia), director of photography at Russian Reporter Magazine, selected the participants:
- Myriam Abdelaziz, Egypt
- Ons Abid, Tunisia
- Julie Adnan, Iraq
- Carole Al-Farah, Syria
- Ahmed Al-Husseiney Hameed, Iraq
- Laura Boushnak, Palestinian Territories
- Khaled Dessouki, Egypt
- Grace Kassab, Lebanon
- Abid-Rahman Katib, Palestinian Territories
- Dalia Khamissy, Lebanon
- Salah Malkawi, Jordan
- Haitham Mussawi, Lebanon
- Kamaran Najm, Iraq
- Ali Nouraldine, Palestinian Territories
- Mohammed Saber, Palestinian Territories
The project has been made possible with support from Free Voice, Burafo and Oxfam Novib.
