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Award-winners: Shahira Fahmy, Mohamed Salama, Mona Alsaba

AUC Faculty And Students Shine At The AEJMC Conference

Faculty and students from the American University in Cairo (AUC) won top awards at the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC) conference in Philadelphia, held from August 8 to 11, in several categories. 

Shahira Fahmy, '91, '00, professor at the Department of Journalism and Mass Communication, received the Top Faculty Paper Award for her research, "Shattered Lives, Unbroken Stories: Journalists' Perspectives from the Frontlines of War." Co-authored with Mohamed Salama and Mona Alsaba, the paper explores the challenges faced by Gaza journalists. Fahmy also took second place for another study, "Seeing Differently: Israeli-Palestinian Conflict Visual Narratives Before and After the Abraham Accords in Arab Media," co-authored with Alsaba.

"Our research journey began amidst the Gaza war turmoil. The study is based on interviews conducted with 18 Palestinian journalists in Gaza, aiming to unveil the challenges and nuances of reporting on the Israel-Gaza War that began on October 7, 2023. Through our findings, we provide insights into the evolving landscape of war coverage in the digital era, highlighting ethical dilemmas, safety concerns and personal struggles faced by journalists reporting during conflict," said Fahmy. 

Menna Elhosary, a teaching assistant, won the Top Paper Award for her research on online news verification during the 2023 Gaza War, co-authored with Rasha Abdulla '92, '96, professor at the Department of Journalism and Mass Communications. Moreover, Elhosary's work on political cartoons during the Gaza War, co-authored with graduate student Menna Elkashif, earned the Top
Research Poster Award. Her innovative assignment, "AI Mythbusters: Debunking Digital Deceptions," also won Best Teaching Idea in the Graduate Student Category, focusing on identifying AI-generated misinformation.

Elhosary noted that “the ultimate goal of this assignment is to enhance media students' fact-checking skills, especially within the context of AI-generated misinformation. The assignment focuses on AI-generated misinformation rather than human-generated content, which is an area that is still underexplored."

Sara Tarek, a 2021 graduate and current PhD candidate, won first place in the Guido H. Stempel III Award for Journalism and Mass Communication Research for her paper, "The Instagram Effect: Unveiling the Influence on Young Egyptian Women's Body Image and Self-Objectification." 

The paper explores how Instagram usage affects young Egyptian women, leading to body dissatisfaction, and pressure to achieve an “ideal” body shape. “The findings contribute to our understanding of social media's impact on body image and emphasize the need for awareness and education regarding the effects of Instagram use among female users in Egypt," she noted.

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Founded in 1919, The American University in Cairo (AUC) is a leading English-language, American- accredited institution of higher education and center of the intellectual, social, and cultural life of the Arab world. It is a vital bridge between East and West, linking Egypt and the region to the world through scholarly research, partnerships with academic and research institutions and study abroad programs. 

The University offers 39 undergraduate, 52 master’s and two PhD programs rooted in a liberal arts education that encourages students to think critically and find creative solutions to conflicts and challenges facing both the region and the world. 

An independent, nonprofit, politically non-partisan, non-sectarian and equal opportunity institution, AUC is fully accredited in Egypt and the United States.