Winning awards at ASBU Festival reflects progress of Omani media: Minister of Information

Oman Saturday 17/June/2023 17:19 PM
By: Times News Service
Winning awards at ASBU Festival reflects progress of Omani media: Minister of Information

MUSCAT: Oman won a total of 11 awards at the recently-concluded Arab States Broadcasting Union (ASBU) Radio and Television Festival that concluded in Tunis.

The excellent performance of Oman at the 23rd edition of the Festival won praise from Dr. Abdullah Nasser Khalifa Al Harrasi, the Minister of Information, who emphasised that the success indicated the high level of competence and quality produced by the Omani media.

In a statement to ONA, Dr. Al Harrasi said: “The awards included in radio for podcasts, children’s programmes, youth competition, music tracks and songs, environmental and interactive programmes. In television, the awards won were in films, documentary programmes, natural reserves documentary and news exchange and programme competitions.”

Dr Al Harrasi added that “the achievement in various fields of media reflects the progress made by the radio and television production industry, and the media in general in Oman. The awards are sort of an international certification to the continuous efforts of the various public and private media establishments made in Oman.”

The Minister of Information affirmed the commitment of the ministry on developing the media landscape in Oman by implementing comprehensive plans which encourages creation, innovation, and enhance media culture, skills of the interviewers through training.

He added: “These prestigious awards that Oman won will push us to further enhance our production and adopt modern technologies to boost the quality of our media products.”

Dr. Al Harrasi extended his greetings to all the winners at the ASBU Radio and Television Festival. It may be mentioned that Oman won 11 awards in Tunis.

The Sultanate of Oman Radio won the first prize in the radio competitions for podcast programmes and the first prize for children’s programmes (scout activities) “Safron”, and in the youth initiatives competition it also won the second prize with “And Cooperate”. The Sultanate of Oman Radio also won the gold award in the musical composition category for the piece “Wahaj”, and the silver award in the song category for the song “Ayyanaak”.

“Hala FM Radio” won the second prize in environmental programmes for “Hala Box”. Al Wisal Radio won the second prize in the interactive programmes for “Al-Wesal Forum”.

The documentary film, “House of Wonders and the Age of Caravans between the Sultanate of Oman and Zanzibar” won the first prize in the category of general films and documentaries.

Sultanate of Oman TV won the first prize for the programme “Al-Sarb: Wildlife and Natural Reserves in Dhofar Governorate” in the category of the competition “Across the Arab World: Natural Reserves in the Arab World”, and also won the first prize for the programme “Athar: Engraving Rock Art and Ancient Writings”.

Oman also won in the category of the “Documentary Programme: The Art of Architecture in the Arab World” competition, for news and programme exchange competitions. -With ONA inputs