Al Jazeera wins record number of Telly Awards

Al Jazeera Digital has been named “Telly Company of the Year” at the annual Telly Awards.

Winners were announced online on May 24. Organisers for the Telly Awards, which recognise excellence in video and television content across all screens, confer the prize annually to the broadcaster or online publisher with the most gold, silver and bronze medals.

It was the second consecutive year that a division within the Al Jazeera Media Network garnered the top award. In 2021 it went to Al Jazeera Arabic (TV).

Judges evaluated some 11,000 entries from media outlets across Europe, North and South America and the Asia Pacific, including from PBS Digital Studios, ViacomCBS, Warner Bros, Sony Music Entertainment, Fast Company and ESPN.

Al Jazeera Digital earned 16 gold medals for Arabic and English video content spanning documentary, social video, social newscast, explainers and web-series genres.

Arabic language content did exceptionally well, winning nine of Digital’s 16 gold medals. English and Arabic news and current affairs videos, social reports and longer-form stories also fetched a number of silver and bronze medals.

Digital Newsroom, the Arabic language social news platform for news and social savvy Arab audiences, won four gold medals with stories across its social channels frequently reaching well into the millions.

Digital Newsroom won a total of 18 medals, including silver and bronze. AJ Digital’s O2 platform also won four gold medals for its English and Arabic language web series Decoded (Dahaleez) hosted by Egyptian-born musician turned Hollywood actor Amr Waked.

The platform also won three silver medals for Shoaib Parliament, the digital meets real-world parliament for Arab youth hosted by influencer Shoaib Rashed.

True to its ethos of telling human-centred stories, news and current affairs, website Arabic Net, won a gold medal for a short video from its My Story series, about a Syrian boy collecting unexploded munitions to sell as scrap metal to support his family.

AJ wins dozens of medals

AJ Close Up won three gold medals for a range of narrative short documentaries about people living at the heart of big global issues – from Russia’s Banned Youth to Holding on to Ukraine, which captures intimate portraits of internally displaced Ukrainians fleeing for their lives. Newsfeed, AJ Digital’s social video unit, won three gold medals, including for its web series about global defence, Project Force, presented by Alex Gatopoulos.

Al Jazeera’s immersive storytelling and innovation studio AJ Contrast also won a gold medal for Inaccessible Cities, an interactive site highlighting the struggles that women with disabilities face in navigating megacities.

In addition to 16 gold, AJ Digital won 36 silver and 15 bronze medals.

“We are grateful to receive this recognition on behalf of our Arabic and English video teams,” said Yaser Bishr, executive director of Digital. “Despite relentless news cycles and a pandemic, they have modelled a level of resourcefulness and creativity that has set a gold standard for video journalism.”

Other divisions in the Al Jazeera Media Network also won top awards. The Al Jazeera English broadcast division won six gold medals for long-form investigative reports and shows, including three gold medals for 101 East, and one gold medal each for Witness, The Listening Post and the Big Picture.

The Investigations Unit (I Unit) also won three gold medals for The Men who Sell Football and a gold medal for its multiple award-winning investigation, All the Prime Minister’s Men. The Al Jazeera Arabic broadcast channel also won two gold medals, one for Story to Follow: The Roots of War and another for Palestine 1920, re-versioned in English by Al Jazeera English strand, Al Jazeera World.

AJ+ also won a gold medal for Direct From with Dena Takruri: Policing the Borders.

All content was judged by members of The Telly Award Judging Council comprised of more than 200 industry experts and leading professionals from top production companies, networks and content studios.

For more than 40 years, the Telly Awards have honoured exceptional and innovative television and video content across all screens.

Al Jazeera Digital has won multiple Webby, Amnesty, Gracie, Online Journalism, Drum Online Media and numerous other awards.