AUCians Shine at International Journalism Conference

AUC awardees at the conference include:

Shahira Fahmy '91, '00, professor, Department of Journalism and Mass Communication

• First place - Top Faculty Paper Award for her research, "Shattered Lives, Unbroken Stories: Journalists' Perspectives from the Frontlines of War," co-authored with Mohamed Salama (MA '22) and Mona Alsaba (MA '23) . The paper intricately portrays the current perspectives of Gaza journalists, shining a spotlight on the challenging path of Palestinian journalists covering Gaza, who have been named laureates of the 2024 UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize. The award  is part of the Robert L. Stevenson Open Paper Competition at AEJMC's International Communication Division.

"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." – Shahira Fahmy

• Second place for her paper, "Seeing Differently: Israeli-Palestinian Conflict Visual Narratives Before and After the Abraham Accords in Arab Media," co-authored with Mona Alsaba (Visual Communication Division, AEJMC).

Mohamed Salama (MA '22):, PhD candidate, University of Maryland

• Second place - Top Paper Award. "Law Enforcement and Lynching in the Press: America’s  Narrative from 1835 to 1950." The award is part of the Commission on Graduate Education at AEMJC.

Menna Elhosary '24, teaching assistant, Department of Journalism and Mass Communication 

• Second place - Top Paper Award for her research, ,"When and Why do Arabs Verify? Predicting Online News Verification Intention During the 2023 Gaza War," co-authored with Rasha Abdulla '92, '96. The award  is part of the Robert L. Stevenson Open Paper Competition at AEJMC's International Communication Division.
• First place - Top Research Poster Award for her paper, "Cartooning, Framing, and Virality; Unraveling the Power of Political Cartoons During the 2023-2024 Gaza War," co-authored with graduate student Menna Elkashif (Political Communication Division, AEJMC).
• First place - Graduate Student Category, Best Teaching Idea for developing an assignment titled AI Mythbusters: Debunking Digital Deceptions. Through the assignment, students fact-check as many news items and user-generated content as possible throughout the semester using fact-checking tools and techniques to spot AI-generated misinformation, which might include deep fake videos as well as AI-generated images, audio or text.  The award is part of the Teaching News Terrifically in the 21st Century competition, co-sponsored by Washington and Lee University in collaboration with AEJMC's Newspaper and Online News Division.

"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." – Menna Elhosary '

Sara Tarek 17, '21, PhD candidate, Universidad de Murcia, the University of Murcia in Spain

• First place - 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 examines the effect of Instagram use on young Egyptian women’s body image and how it relates to self-objectification,  how women get dissatisfied and ashamed of their bodies, how the comments they receive on their Instagram content affect them positively or negatively, and put pressure on them to acquire a better body shape. The award is part of the Commission on Graduate Education division in AEJMC .

"I focused on Instagram because it is still relatively a new tool, and its effects on body image and self-objectification, especially for young women, is still not clear. 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." - Sara Tarek

Omneya Mohamed Nagib (MA '19) , PhD candidate, University of Texas at Austin 

•  AEJMC-Mass Communication and Society Division Diversity and Inclusion Career Development Fellowship for "outstanding academic accomplishment and potential for continued achievement as scholars and/or media professionals" addressing issues of diversity, equity,m inclusion and accssilbity within the meida industry