Student Awards

• In 2023, The American University in Cairo’s Kamal Adham Center for Television and Digital Journalism ranked number18 in overall top winning programs and number 3 in top winning documentary programs in the 2023 Recognition of Institutional Excellence in Media by the Broadcast Education Association (BEA).
• In 2022, the first year the Broadcast Education Association (BEA) announces the annual rankings of schools based on the creative achievement of their students, The American University in Cairo, represented by the Kamal Adham Center, ranked number 15 in overall top winning programs, number 1 in top winning documentary programs, and number 29 in top winning news programs.
• The rankings are not an overall evaluation of an academic program but an evaluation of the quality and consistency of students’ creative works produced at one institution compared to those at other institutions. While the BEA has been evaluating student works for nearly 20 years in competition, the rankings are based on the past five-year period of student success. Because of the breadth of media taught at participating institutions, individual rankings are provided in each of the seven different media competitions that have at least a five-year history.
• Additionally, there is an overall ranking based on a combined achievement across the multiple media creative disciplines.
• The festival winners represent approximately the top 20% of entries. There are five levels of awards: best of festival, first place, second place, third place, and award of excellence. The rankings take into account both the quantity and quality of student work. For instance, best of festival winners are given a higher weight than Awards of Excellence. While the BEA honors outstanding achievements of both faculty and students, the rankings focus solely on student accomplishments. In the 2022 BEA Festival Student Achievement Rankings, 170 schools are represented with student winners.
• The Broadcast Education Association is the premiere international academic media organization, driving insights, excellence in media production, and career advancement for educators, students, and professionals. The Festival of Media Arts was created and is organized by BEA faculty across the globe to honor the amazing works of both students and faculty.
• The BEA Festival is the preeminent international media competition focused on student and faculty creative endeavors. In the last six years alone, over 6,000 student creative works were submitted from BEA’s more than 300 member institutions around the globe. Entries go through a blind-juried review in the following competitions: audio, documentary, film and video, interactive multimedia and emerging technologies, news, scriptwriting, and sports. For details on rankings, click here.

In February 2023, three Adham Center graduates won in the BEA’s Festival of Media Arts student competition:

1. Mirna Abou ElSeoud won First Place in the Documentary Category for her film Golden Fingers
2. Gehad Essam El-Din won an Award of Excellence in the Documentary Category for her film Quorsaya People.
3. Fatma El Khatib won an Award of Excellence in the Film and Video Category for her film Nile Inhabitants.

In February 2022, six Adham Center graduates won in the BEA’s Festival of Media Arts International competition as follows:

1. Marina Michel won First Place in the Documentary Category for her film Hallawela.
2. Lara Magdy won First place in the Television News Category for her film Besha’a.
3. Marina Michel won Third Place in the Micro-Documentary Category for her film One Step.
4. Chima Mamdouh won an Award of Excellence in the Short-Form Documentary Category for her film Heba Wagdy-Osteogenesis Imperfecta.
5. Mira Maged won an Award of Excellence in the Short-Form Documentary Category for her film Dronka Guardians.
6. Nada Shaker won an Award of Excellence in the Short-Form Documentary Category for her film Woman of El Izba.

Three Adham Center graduates have won at the Broadcast Education Association's  (BEA) Festival of Media Arts 2021, and five have won in the 2020 festival.

2021:

1. Assem Khaled has won an Award of Excellence in the Student Micro-Documentary category for his story Desert Rain.
2. Sarah Sadek has won an Award of Excellence in the Short-Form Documentary category for her story Cheerful Child.
3. Nouran Nour has won 1st place in the Television News category for her feature The Tale Behind Egyptian Brick.

2020:

1. In the Film and Video Category: Sherehan Khaled Elazazy won 1st Place for her story Egyptian South Pole.
2. In the Micro Documentary Category: Dania Elmor won 2nd place for her story Dorgham’s Son; Layla Umara won the Award of Excellence for her story A Craft in Color; Maha El-Rayes won the Award of Excellence for her story Siwa… Heaven of Recovery.
3. In the Short Film Documentary Category: Hussein El Moataz won an Award of Excellence for his story The People of Gold.

In 2019,

1. Two of the Center’s graduate students, Ahmed Atef Abbas and Aya Saleh, won at the BEA’s International Festival of Media Arts competition and were among a total of 295 winners that year.
2. Ahmed Atef Abbas won 3rd place in the Television Feature Category for his story titled Blue Hole: Divers Paradise Cemetery. He also won an award of excellence in the Short Form Video or Film Documentary category for his story titled, El Shayya.
3. Aya Saleh won an award of excellence in the Short Form Video or Film Documentary category for her story titled Catherine Exists.

In 2018, Adham Center alumni Hagar Hassan Adss and Salma Nader Galal (class of 2017) won an award of excellence in the BEA’s Festival of Media Arts. Their documentary Who Brought It to Life won in the short-form video category. Adss and Galal’s documentary was among a record 1,541 film submissions to the entire competition. Their work ranked in the top 20% of the category they entered. Adss and Galal were the only Arab awardees in this category.

All these stories were part of the master students' capstone projects supervised by Hussein Amin.

The prestigious BEA is one of the top three international conferences in the field of media and communication. The student wins were among more than 1,700 submissions from all around the world in the different festival categories. The BEA and the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) Exhibition are typically held in April of every year at Las Vegas Convention Center, Nevada, the United States. This year, and the year before, due to COVID-19 travel restrictions, the winners received their awards virtually.

For details click here

In June 2023, Adham Center graduate student, Amira Ehab Dakroury, MA’22, won in the Africa Film Festival (AFF) for her documentary film, ‘The Kohrita.’ Dakroury produced the award winning film during her capstone course in the Master of Arts in Television and Digital Journalism. Her course professor and capstone advisor was Dr. Hussein Amin.

The Africa Film Festival is a platform for filmakers from Africa and the African diaspora. Located in Belgium.

AFF works together with other European African filmfestivals: Africa in Motion (Scotland), iAfrica Festival (The Hague), Festival di Cinema Africano (Verona),… The festival screens feature films, documentaries and shorts. The festival always starts with an international conference. 

Following competitions are organised: YAFMA, a competition for shorts by Young African Filmakers Award and a competition for documentaires supported by Unesco (jury and monetary prize which is AFF GOES ONLINE: YOUTUBE CONTES.

The Kohrita participated among other 6 documentaries and 10 short movies in the AFF online competition and won the audience award.

For details click here

In February 2023, Adham Center graduate student, class of 2022, Gehad Essam El Din received Honorable Mention from London International Film Festival for her film "People of Qursaya."

Gehad's film was part of her capstone coursework towards her MA in Television and Digital Journalism at the Kamal Adham Center at AUC. Her capstone faculty supervisor was Dr. Hussein Amin, Professor and Director of the Kamal Adham Center.

For details click here

Ahmed Atef and Aya Saleh won Best of Competition Awards in the student documentary competition of the World Journalism Education Congress (WJEC) Festival held in Paris in July 2019, for their short documentaries titled “El shayyah” and “Catherine exists.” Adham Center graduate students, Heba Saleh and Maram Shalaby, won two awards of excellence for their films “The Ferry” and “Breaking Walls” in the student news competition category. Shalaby also won another award of excellence in the student documentary competition for her short film “On the Corniche.”  These awards were out of a total of 100 entries in the festival. The student wins were among 11% for best of competition and 49% for award of excellence.

For details click here

• Doaa Farid, Television and Digital Journalism (TVDJ) MA, Class of 2021, won Best Documentary Award in the Middle East Category of Zayed University Middle East Film Festival (ZUMEFF) for her film "Last Tunes." Her documentary film was part of her capstone course requirements during her study for the TVDJ MA program under the supervision of Dr. Hussein Amin, Director of the Kamal Adham Center for Television and Digital Journalism, and capstone course professor.
• TVDJ MA capstone film titled "The Egyptian South Pole" produced by Adham Center alumna, Sherehan Khaled Elazazy, Class of 2019, was selected one of the top 5 films across all categories of the Zayed University Middle East Film Festival (ZUMEFF) 2020 and 2021 editions. In total, over 2,000 films were submitted from 106 different countries from all over the world. El Azazy's was voted and selected among the top 5. The top films were virtually screened on ZUMEFF's first day on November 16, 2021.
• Zayed University Middle East Film Festival (ZUMEFF) held in Dubai in April 2019 presented Nada Atta with an “honorable mention – documentary” award for her short film “The Coffee Shop.” The festival originally accepted 60 contestants from the Middle East; only 10 were awarded. Along with the award, Atta received 2,000 AED as part of Nada’s award for her distinguished work. 

For details click here

• Salma ElDesokey, MA'22, won Honorable Mention Awards for her filma "Wheel," "Life of Social Media," "Canal Lining," and "Mobile Consuming" in the Student World Impact Film Festival (SWIFF) 2023. She also received Finalist Award in the Best Documentary category for her film "The Bee Lover."
• Khaled Amgad, MA'21, won a Finalist Award in the Best PSA Video category.
• Gehad Abdelrazek (Kamal Adham Fellow), MA'22, won a Quarter-Finalist Award in the Best Short Film category.
• Hoda El Nahlawy, MA'22, won Honorable Mention Award for her film, "Autism Spectrum." She also received Finalist Award in the Best Documentary category for her film, "Thin Thread."
• Dalia ElAkkad, MA'21, won a Quarter-Finalist Award in the Best Documentary category for her film "Tale of a Forest."

These films were among entries from 120 countries that participated in the festival. They were produced during the graduates’ Television and Digital Journalism MA capstone course under the supervision of Dr. Hussein Amin.

For details click here

In October 2021, Adham Center alumna, Dania ElMor, MA’20 won FIRST place award in the Best Student Film category of UK’s annual Women Over Fifty Film Festival (WOFFF). Women Over 50 Film Festival. The judges have said, in part, of Elmor’s film, “What a wonderful film. I have never had a window into someone's world quite like this one.” ElMor is the first Egyptian filmmaker to win at the WOFFF in the 7 years the festival has been in existence.

ElMor’s story was part of her capstone course in the MA in Television and Digital Journalism, under the supervision of Dr. Hussein Amin, director of the Adham Center and capstone advisor.

ElMor’s film was screened in the award ceremony hosted on October 2, at the Depot Cinema, along with other award winners announced during the event. Due to travel restrictions, ElMor was not able to travel to receive her award, but she attended the ceremony virtually.

For details click here

Adham Center graduate student, Dalia ElAkkad, class of 2021, had her film "Waterfalls Birds" selected for an Honorable Mention to the Twelfth Annual Cinema Verde International Environmental Film and Arts Festival. Through her project, ElAkkad went on a Nile cruise to discover the waterfalls world and their islands, full of exotic bird species.  Cinema Verde, an Environmental Film and Arts Festival in Gainesville, Florida, was created to raise awareness of environmental issues through the arts. The Festival will hold its thirteenth annual event in February 2022. Cinema Verde’s mission is to provide environmental education to the public through film, arts, workshops, events, tours and any other forum or media; to increase public awareness of environmental practices that enhance public health and improve quality of life in urban, suburban and rural settings. 

The festival reaches more than 3,000 participants with screenings of an international array of 25+ professional films plus student submissions at the annual festival and monthly events.

For details click here

Khaled Amgad, Class of 2021, won "Best Short Documentary" for the month of January 2022 in the Florence Film Awards. Amgad's win is for his film "Egypt Equine Aid" that talks about a hospital in Egypt specifically dedicated to horses and donkeys that suffer from diseases or injuries throughout their journeys in life. 

Florence Film Awards is an IMDb qualifier; an international monthly film festival based in Tuscany. Each month, their Jury awards the best films through private screenings. A selection of short films are also screened every month in Florence at Scuola di Cinema Immagina (Immagina Film School).

More information can be found here

• Marina Michel and Nada Shaker, Television and Digital Journalism MA graduates, class of 2021, won in the National Council for Women (NCW) - Media Sector Awards, part of the annual international campaign "16 days of activism against gender-based violence. Marina Michel won for her film "Hallawella," and Nada Shaker won for her film "Women of the Ezba" 
• In December 2021, and as part of the National Council for Women (NCW) and the Supreme Advisory Council for Afro-Asian Union for Women's activities for the annual international campaign referred to as "16 days of activism against gender-based violence", launched by UN Women in 1991, both councils held student competitions to encourage students to produce more films, documentaries and research papers that address women's issues locally and globally, and our students have won in both competitions for their outstanding video productions on topics that empower women and that tackle different women roles in the society.
• In the Afro-Asian Union for Women competition, Khaled Amgad, Amira Ehab Dakroury, and Chima Kamal have won for their films: "Evil Messages- رسائل شريرة", "Mental Pressure from Cyber bullying - الضغط النفسي الناتج عن التنمر الإلكتروني", "Bullying is not a Joke- التنمر مش ضحكة", and "Circumcision Restoration - ترميم الختان"
• In The National Council for Women's competition, Marina M. Fares, and Menna Ali Farouk have won for their films: "Taghreed the Youngest Fishwife-تغريد بائعة السمك", and "Bakery of a Woman - مخبز الست" 
• Adham Center alumna, Dania Elmor, MA’19, has won Best Graduation Project and Practical Research award from The National Council for Women (NCW), Media Committee competition. Elmor’s story titled, “Fishing Net” or “El Habbasa” portrays a woman’s struggle, Om el Sayed, in fishing every day in the middle of the night using her bare hands, in order to make a living for herself and her family. El Habbasa was screened as part of NCW’s virtual event to celebrate the competition winners.

In June 2021, Adham Center alumna, Sarah Zakariya Gheitah, MA’20, won first place in the documentary film category of Visions Cairo Egyptian Short Film Festival, for her film ‘The Journey’. Sarah’s film was among 50 documentary submissions from all over Egypt, and among a total 123 festival submissions. Other Adham Center alumni projects were selected for screening at Visions Cairo Egyptian Short Film Festival. A total of 15 student stories were selected; 9 for panorama screening by the Festival, and 6 have been nominated for awards.