Decision taken in light of recent natural disasters in Libya, Morocco Award was launched by the Arab League to advance regional media landscape LONDON: The Arab Media Excellence Award Committee will dedicate its next session to “Crisis, Disaster, and Risk Media” in light of the recent natural disasters that have hit several Arab countries, the Saudi Press Agency reported on Tuesday. Members of the Arab League’s journalistic initiative, now in its eighth session, gathered for a two-day meeting earlier this week to discuss upgrading and developing the details of the award. Chief of the Arab Media Excellence Award Committee Hamad Al-Badri said that one of the goals of the award is to encourage and motivate the media and journalists in their work to “serve the Arab community.” The committee will hold two more meetings to finalize the details, and the winning works will be selected according to specific standards. The General Secretariat of the Council of Arab Information Ministers launched the Arab Media Excellence Award in 2015 in celebration of Arab Media Day, which falls annually on April 21. The award is given to media organizations and individuals in a variety of categories, including audiovisual, press, and online media, for producing media reports that promote Arab solidarity. A different theme for the award is chosen by the committee each year. Since it was first awarded in 2016, the Arab Media Excellence Award has been well-received by many Arab media organizations and professionals, who expressed their hope that this award would contribute to the advancement of Arab media.