The ‘Daraj’ news site has for the second year in a row been awarded the World News Organization (WAN-IFRA) award, presented in conjunction with Google, coming in first place in the “Best Digital News Start-Up” category in the Middle East.

The award, according to its organizers, is granted in appreciation of the publishers of the region who during the past year presented exceptional and groundbreaking media content. There are also categories related to the production value of the websites, and their modern visions in terms of advertisement, distribution and readers’ subscriptions. More than seventy media organizations participated in the contest, competing for ten categories. Among the winners this year: “BBC News Arabic Trending”, the Jordanian newspaper “Al-Ghad”, and the Turkish online news site “Demiroren teknoloji”.

The award committee holds its sessions throughout the year in different regions of the world, and considers webpages that are on the rise in terms of innovation in the world of electronic publishing. The Middle East award winners are directly entered to compete for the World Digital Media Awards, presented to the top news media industry publishers, elected within the framework of the international forum that WAN-IFRA generally holds in June every year.

WAN-IFRA, the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers, boasts over three thousand publishing houses and institutions, including 80 that represent 18,000 newspapers in more than 120 countries. Its main mission is to protect the rights of journalists and publishers around the world, as well as to support independent news media organizations.