2020/2021 Winners & Shortlists

Cultural / Context information for the jury

When Lebanon was plunged into the 6th revolution in its history. An Nahar, the nation’s leading paper looked to empower women to lead the revolution, and avoid the violence that marked previous protests. We then spotted a glaring injustice in Lebanon – the absence of women in the Lebanese National Anthem. We took the bold move of fixing it. In a phrase in the anthem that previously only referred to Lebanon as "the birthplace of men," we added "the birthplace of WOMEN AND men." We printed the revised National Anthem on the front page of the An Nahar newspaper. And the entire edition was dedicated to one story alone – The women’s story. Even the newspaper’s name was changed to "Naharouki," which translates into “Your Day” when addressing a female.

Translation. Provide a full English translation of any text.

For our Country, for our Glory and Flag! Our valor and our writings are the envy of the ages. Our mountain and our valley, the birthplace of WOMEN AND men. And to Perfection we devote our words and labor.

Tell the jury about the art direction.

We realized that changing even a single word in Lebanon's national anthem would be a bold and colossal move that would change the course of the country's future. To highlight this change effectively, our ad was type heavy, and was designed with a large and easy to read font. We partnered with one of Lebanon's most famous calligraphers, to deliver our message straight from the hearts of the Lebanese people. The entire anthem was handwritten, and the addition of the word 'women' was highlighted in red, the universal color for correcting something. A minor tweak in the paper's name turned "An Nahar" to "Naharouki," which translates into “Your Day” when addressing females.