In an event that gathered more than 50 participants and stakeholders, MADRAJ has organized the closing ceremony of the first Stage of its five-months program “Towards Digital and Sustainable Media” that was held in cooperation with Al-Jazeera Media Institute (AJMI) and in partnership with the International Center for Journalists (ICFJ) earlier this spring.

The training program was designed to support and launch independent emerging digital media projects led by youth and women in the field of establishing and developing startups specialized in digital media start-ups. The program has also focused on tools for digital transformation, storytelling, data journalism, media education and digital identity through different technologies such as data, virtual reality and artificial intelligence.

During the event that was sponsored by Orange Jordan, an independent committee of jurors has selected three winning project ideas to be incubated for a six-month period with the aim to develop their ideas to tangible prototypes and eventually launch their projects. The jurors committee included H.E. Mothanna Gharaibeh, former minister of Digital Economy and Entrepreneurship and CEO of The Fifth for Advisory Services, Nidal Bitar, CEO of Int@J, Dr. Mirna Abou Zaid, Dean of Jordan Media Institute, Rana Dababneh, Deputy Chief PR, CSR, Corporate Communication Officer at Orange Jordan, Hasan Shoubaki, director of Al-Jazeera Office in Amman, and Luma Fawaz, CEO of Oasis500.

Eight finalist participants of the program have presented their project ideas during the event that took place in BIG by Orange, from which the committee of jurors has chosen three project ideas. The winning projects are Anwan, Mukhmal, and ShadowStock.

The event was covered by multiple news outlets. Read in Arabic about the event on Petra, Hala.jo, Amman.net, and Amoon.