2022 Winners & Shortlists

Cultural / Context information for the jury

As Lebanon was going through a historically critical financial crisis, with necessities getting scarcer every day, an absurd shortage of the ink and paper needed to print ballots threatened a decisive election. An-Nahar, the leading newspaper driven to defend the country’s fragile democracy, decided not to print on February 2nd. People walked up to the newsstands to find empty racks, carrying nothing but a single message: The ink and paper intended for today’s issue was donated to the printing of voting ballots for the 2022 election. The empty newsstands filled the country, symbolizing the fight to safeguard democracy.

Write a short summary of what happens in the digital or ambient execution or campaign.

On February 1st, the newspaper’s editor-in-chief announced the next day’s special Election Issue, inviting people to be on the lookout for it. But the special issue of An-Nahar was never printed. On February 2nd, there was no physical newspaper to purchase. Instead, people walked to the newsstands to find empty racks displaying a single message: The ink and paper intended for today’s edition has been sent towards the printing of voting ballots for the 2022 election. A QR code directed people to the online version of the newspaper. An-Nahar’s iconic empty newsstands filled the country symbolising the fight to safeguard democracy. The newspaper also stirred up conversation online and called upon publishers, press companies and printing factories to rally behind the cause to exert undeniable pressure on the government. Competing publications also printed the An-Nahar ad, calling for the safeguarding of the elections.