• Al-Dhiabi: A fruit that we pick for our digital leadership, which we dedicate to the followers of "Okaz" and to the Chairman of its Board of Directors
• Goldfinch: The award is the result of everyone's effort and solidarity in achieving victory in the innovation challenge
Okaz won the “Innovation Challenge” award from the Google News Initiative, which was launched by Google to enable the most important news and publishing organizations in the world to present new ideas in the news sector.
Google announced that 425 projects from 42 countries applied for this challenge, of which 34 projects from 17 countries won.
This comes in the context of the frequent successes achieved by “Okaz” after its amazing digital transformation, and its successful bet on renewal and moving in this direction according to well-studied plans. It was the first to keep pace with the rapid changes, and maximize its presence on all technical platforms and sites, without prejudice to its professional sobriety and values. The authentic journalist, by opening new horizons that are compatible with the technical revolution, and the continued continuous development of the form and content, with more boldness and higher professionalism, with a visual identity that is today a solid imprint on the scene, more attractive and deeper impact, in line with the renewable data in the media spaces, and expresses the personality » Okaz », pioneering and distinguished, which has been imprinted in the minds of readers for more than 60 years.
This challenge comes as an initiative by Google aimed at empowering news organizations from all over the world that lead new thinking in digital journalism, and challenge the status quo by taking bold steps and developing business models based on criteria of “innovation, influence in the news industry, feasibility and measurement indicators.” Diversity, Inclusion, and Inspiration.
On this, the editor-in-chief of “Okaz” and the general supervisor of the “Saudi Gazette” newspaper, Colleague Jamil Al-Dhiabi, said: “It is a new fruit that we pick from a seed harvested by “Okaz” through the efforts of colleagues who are persistent and passionate about success despite the challenges, with the support of its Chairman of its Board of Directors, Sheikh Abdullah Saleh Kamel, who Keen to support all projects and plans towards this transformation, Okaz had to keep pace with journalism in its digital phase, which provides wider areas for press coverage, through sound, image, and the read word, and employed its accumulated experiences in traditional journalism to become a solid foundation for journalism. Digital requires expansion of information, and attracting the reader by all means on all available digital platforms.
And the editor-in-chief of “Okaz” has been stressing adherence to the highest standards of professionalism, and ensuring the sobriety of content, while developing it in a way that enhances its reach to the largest segment of followers, through a variety of read, visual and audio means and platforms.
For his part, the Director General of the “Okaz” Foundation for Press and Publication, Abdullah Al-Hassoun, stated that the award is nothing but the result of the effort and solidarity of everyone in achieving victory in the “Innovation Challenge” from the “Google News Initiative”, which did justice to our approach in achieving vision and innovation for digital transformation. Al-Hassoun extended his thanks to the Chairman of the Board, Sheikh Abdullah Saleh Kamel, for all his unlimited support for the promotion of “Okaz” and pushing it to the ranks of the media, and to all colleagues in “Okaz” without exception.
Several months ago, “Okaz” ranked first for news and journalistic sources, and ranked third in the “Forbes” classification of the 10 most visited websites in the Middle East and North Africa, according to the “Narratiive Media” platform.
Okaz (Jeddah)
