Birzeit University launches scholarship, journalism award in honour of Shireen Abu Akleh

Birzeit University announced on Thursday the launch of the “Shireen Abu Akleh Award for Media Excellence” as an annual award for Palestinian media professionals.

This award, which will be announced on 11 May each year, the date journalist Abu Akleh was killed, is a tribute to her national and media role, as she contributed to conveying the Palestinian voice to the world by covering the continuous Israeli occupation attacks on Palestinians.

The university also announced the allocation of an annual scholarship in honour of Abu Akleh to one of its distinguished female media students as recognition for academic excellence. The scholarship fund is entitled “The Martyr Shireen Abu Akleh Scholarship for Academic Excellence in Journalism and Media”.

The university noted that Abu Akleh had a special relationship with Birzeit University. She was one of the media trainers in its Media Development Centre and delivered her experience to university students by teaching courses in television reporting. In 1997, she obtained a radio diploma from the Media Development Centre at the university andenrolled in the first cohort of the Diploma in Digital Media in 2020.

READ: Al Jazeera reporter: We must protect the truth after Abu Akleh’s murder