2020/2021 Winners & Shortlists

Cultural / Context information for the jury

The Editor in Chief of An-Nahar, Lebanon’s leading newspaper, was assassinated in 2005 in a car bomb for standing up for free speech. Today, a massive revolution is leading Lebanon to its demise; economically and financially; and An-Nahar found itself facing yet another death – the financial resources to keep printing, thus a funding campaign to donate, not blood but ink. Every Lebanese has a special relationship with An-Nahar. The 87-year-old newspaper acts as a beacon of freedom of speech in a region where this ideology is very rare. The An-Nahar building located in the heart of the Beirut capital, acts as a melting pot for all those who seek to live up to the freedom of speech, making it the reason why most protests and today’s biggest revolution take place under it, turning it into a landmark in the history of the country.