Al Jazeera English channel was named ‘Broadcaster of the Year’ at the 2024 New York Festivals TV & Film Awards for the eight consecutive year.
The channel collected an impressive array of gold, silver and bronze medals for its news and programmes coverage.
The ‘Broadcaster of the Year’ award, considered the premier prize by the organisers, goes to the media organisation that wins the highest number of gold medals. The winners were announced online on April 16th.
The awards featured entries from over 50 countries, covering content screened on U.S and international broadcasters including ITV, BBC, NBC and CBC.
Al Jazeera English won a total of six gold medals. One of the gold medals went to its news coverage of the Sudan conflict in 2023, at a point in which over half a million Sudanese have fled the conflict in their country, most to neighbouring Chad. Correspondents Zein Basravi and Ahmed Idris spent weeks with them, getting an accurate picture of the dire situation in which the refugees are living. Most have fled from West Darfur, where ethnically driven violence and mass killings erupted again this month in the state capital, el-Geneina, pushing thousands more people to flee.
Al Jazeera English’s Witness’ film “Rescue Mission Gaza” also earned a gold medal. The documentary follows a civil defence worker around Gaza City, the film has the plight of civilians at its core. During one brutal day, the team accompanies the first responder on his rescue missions: dodging bombs, racing injured people to hospitals, digging children out of rubble – and then heading back to do it all again.
The other gold medals went to episodes from the Fault Lines and 101 East documentary strands. The channel also won six silver and eight bronze medals, which went to episodes from the news-analysis show The Listening Post and the environment-focused series “Earthrise”.
“We are delighted to be named Broadcaster of the Year by the New York Festivals TV & Film Awards,” said Issa Ali, Acting Managing Director of Al Jazeera English. “This award comes from the hard-working teams at Al Jazeera who are deeply committed to reporting and telling the stories that matter. In today’s world, we believe good journalism is more important than ever. We are deeply grateful to receive this recognition for the work we do.”
Other Divisions in the Al Jazeera Media Network also won top awards. The Al Jazeera Investigative Unit won three golds for its film “Gold Mafia – The Laundry Service.” Al Jazeera Digital’s explainer show “Start Here – On the Road” also won a gold.
All content was screened and judged by the New York Festivals TV & Film Awards Grand Jury of over 200 producers, directors, writers, and other creative media professionals from around the globe.
For over 60 years, New York Festivals TV & Film Awards have honoured exceptional and innovative content created on all continents and seen across all platforms.
Al Jazeera English is a highly decorated news and current affairs channel. In recent years it has won three Royal Television Society awards, a Peabody and several Emmy awards, among other awards.