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BADIL announces winners of 2009 Al-Awda Award - Award Ceremony Launches Nakba-61 Commemoration Activities Across the West Bank

4 May 2009, BADIL Resource Center for Palestinian Residency and Refugee Rights - Bethlehem, Palestine. BADIL is proud to announce the winners of the 2009Al-Awda Award, the third annual public competition of its kind.

The award aims to foster Palestinian talent and creativity and to raise the profile of the Palestinian Nakba and the right of all forcibly displaced Palestinians to return to their homes and lands.

The winners of the 2009 Award come from various parts of historic Palestine as well as Palestinian refugee communities in exile. They were honored on Saturday, 2 May, in two parallel Awda Award Festivals in the West Bank (Ramallah Cultural Palace) and the Gaza Strip (Red Crescent Hall, Tal al-Hawa, Gaza City). The festivals were attended by an enthusiastic combined audience of over 1,500 people from all over Palestine.

The awards were granted by Fawzia (Um Kamel) Al-Kurd, a Palestinian refugee in Jerusalem who has become a symbol of resistance to the ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian capital since her home was expropriated by Jewish-Israeli settlers last year, Husam Khader, member of the Palestinian National Council, Afif Ghatashe, President of Badil's Board of Directors, and Ingrid Jaradat Gassner, Director of Badil.

Winners were selected by independent juries composed of internationally renowned Palestinian artists, academics, journalists, academics and authors. The stage was also graced by the youthful Lajee Center Popular Arts Troupe from Aida camp, which opened and closed the events with a beautiful performance incorporating color, costume, movement and beauty.

This year's Al-Awda Award launches multiple activities and events across Palestine and the world commemorating the 1948 Nakba in which a majority of Palestinian were expelled from their homeland. These activities and events will point to the ongoing nature of the Nakba, the fact that Palestinian refugees have not been allowed to return to their home despite the international community's consensus on the legitimacy of this right, and the ongoing forced displacement of Palestinians throughout historic Palestine.

The 2009 Award Winners are:

Category: Research Papers
Members of the selection committee: Asad Ghanem, Norma Masriyah, Aziz Haidar, Musleh Kanaaneh, Shawqi Alayasa

 Name: Wafa Yousef Ibrahim Zabadi 
 Prize: First
 Tulkarem
 Age: 36
 
 Name:  Mutasem Khader Ali Adelah
 Prize: Second
 Jerusalem 
 Age:36
 
 Name: Jihad Suleiman Salem Almasri
 Prize: Third
 Khan Younes/Gaza
 Age:45
 

 Category: Children’s Stories:
Members of the selection committee: Issa Qaraqi, Salman Natour, Zakaria Mohammad, Renad Qubbaj, Mahmoud Shuqair, Majdi Shomali

 Name: Amal Ka'wash
 Prize: Honorable mention
 London (village of origin: Miron)
 Age:28
 
 Name: Anas Abu-Rahmeh
 Prize: Honorable mention
 Bil'in/Ramallah
 Age:20
 
 Name: Shadiah Zu’bi Kasem 
 Prize: Honorable mention
 Nazareth 
 Age:47
 
  Name: Ahmad Abdelhameed Issa
 Prize: Honorable mention
 Gaza
 Age:27
 
  Name: Jihan Yaser Al-Sedah
 Prize: Honorable mention
 Jet/Qalqilya
 Age:13
 
  Name: Ahlam Besharat
 Prize: Honorable mention
 Tulkarem
 Age: 33
 

Category: Nakba Commemoration Poster:
Members of the selection committee: Yusif Katalo, Suleiman Mansour, Umaya Juha, Makbula Nassar, Sharif Waked, Mohammad Alayan, Omar Assaf, Nassar Ibrahim,

 Name: Rami Hazboun 
 Prize: First
 Abu Dhabi/Bethlehem
 Age:32
 
 Name: Kholoud Khalil Mohammad Al-Ahmad
 Prize: Second
 Ya'bad/ Jenin  
 Age:36
 
 Name: Mohammad Hassan Abdelhadi
 Prize: Third
 Jenin
 Age: 27
 
 Name: Mohammad Abedullah Al-Krunz
 Prize: Honorable mention
 Gaza
 Age: 32
 
 Name: Rania Yousef Mohammad Al-Madhoun
 Prize: Honorable mention
 Gaza/Egypt 
 Age: 33
 
 Name: Bilal Al-Hirbawi
 Prize: Honorable mention
 Al-Khalil (Hebron)
 Age: 24
 
 Name:  Mohammad Adel Abdelraheem Dawud
 Prize: Honorable mention
 Qalqilya
 Age: 23
 
 Name: Donia Ahmad Humeidan 
 Prize: Honorable mention
 Nablus
 Age: 23
 
 Name: Issam Darawsheh
 Honorable mention
 Nazareth/Italy
 Age: 15
 
 Name: Salem Salah Tawfiq Sghayir
 Prize: Honorable mention
 Al-Khalil (Hebron)
 Age: 24
 

Category: Photograph (photographer under 18):
Members of the selection committee: Ibrahim Melhem, Loay Sababa, Ammar Awad, Atef Al-Safadi, Rula Halawani Alaa Badarnah

 Name: Abdelfatah Yahia Abdelaziz Da’ajneh
 Prize: First
  Name: Aidah Refugee Camp/Bethlehem
 Age: 15
 
 Name: Firas Akawi
 Prize: Second
 Akko 
 Age: 15
 
 Name: Sana Ahmad Abdelhamid Al-Ayaseh
 Prize: Third
 Beit Jala
 Age: 14
  

Category: Written Journalism :
Members of the selection committee: Abdelnasser Al-Najar, Qassem Khatib, Shireen Abu Aqleh, Nasser  Al-Lahham, Najib Farraj, Khalil Shaheen

 Name: Muntaser Suleiman Hamdan
 Prize: First
 Ramallah
 Age: 38
 
 Name: Hussam Mohammad Ezzedin Hamdan
 Prize: Second
 Ramallah 
 Age: 42
 
 Name: Maha Adel Al-Tamimi
 Prize: Third
 Ramallah 
 Age: 54
 
 Name: Rana Ali Awaiseh
 Prize: Honorable mention
 Nazareth 
 Age: 25
 
 Name: Shaima’ Yousef 
 Prize: Honorable mention
 Gaza
  
 Name: Mohammad Ahmad Hassan Othman
 Prize: Honorable mention
 Gaza
 Age: 22
 
 Name: Marwah Awad Hassan Al-hasanat
 Prize: Honorable mention
 Gaza
 Age: 35
 
 Name: Mahmoud Yousef Issa Khalil
 Prize: Honorable mention
 Jordan 
 Age: 23
 
 Name: Khader Yousef Mousa Manasreh
 Prize: Honorable mention
 Al-Khalil (Hebron)
 Age: 46
 
 Name: Ra’fat Husni Faris Al-Eis
 Prize: Honorable mention
 Tulkarem
 Age: 49

Badil has committed to disseminate the works of these Awda Award winners through various media.The winning poster has been adopted by the Nakba Commemoration Committee as the official poster for this year's Nakba commemoration activities. Those interested should continue to check our website as we publish the pieces of written journalism, the children's stories, and research papers through various Badil publications.

We also call on artists, writers, and researchers to prepare themselves for next year's competition, and thank all of those who participated in the one this year, including juries, awards committee, and of course the brilliant Palestinian participants themselves who have proved once again that the spirit of talent and creativity can not be caged by any oppressor.

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