Washington, D.C.

Asmaa Fathy of Egyptian magazine El Mawqef Al Arabi, Sasa Milosevic of Daily Serbia and Tarek Mounir of Egyptian newspaper Al Raai took second place for their innovative Web site Hijabskirt Info according to decision of United Nations Alliance of Civilizations and the International Center for Journalists (ICFJ). The site creatively tackles biases in fashion and culture in both the Western and Muslim.

This trio produced a multimedia Web site analyzing the difference in cultural perceptions, starting with the Muslim hijab and the Western miniskirt. The Montenegro Daily News and AllVoices.com featured articles on this project.

Judging the awards were Joyce Barnathan, president of ICFJ; Emmanuel Kattan of the Alliance of Civilizations; Riz Khan, presenter of the Riz Khan Show on Aljazeera English; Daanish Masood, media and partnerships officer of the Alliance of Civilizations; Hoda Osman, an Egyptian-American investigative reporter and journalism trainer; and Eric Weiner, former NPR foreign correspondent and New York Times bestselling author.

The X-Cultural Reporting Awards will be presented to representatives from the three reporting teams at a ceremony in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on May 29.

The reporting teams were formed at a conference on Freedom of Expression in the Digital Age held in Alexandria, Egypt, in February, sponsored by the UN Alliance of Civilizations and the Anna Lindh Foundation and administered by ICFJ, with the support of the Alexandria Library. Meeting over a period of three days, 45 journalists participated in hands-on workshops on writing opinion pieces and using new digital tools. They engaged in vigorous debates on stereotypes, loaded language and graphic images. They also heard from a wide range of experts on everything from covering Islam in the Western media to the growing use of social networking in the Muslim world.

“There’s no better way to break cultural barriers than by creating lively, informed journalism that bridges the cultural divide,” said Emmanuel Kattan, senior communications adviser of the UN’s Alliance of Civilizations. “These joint reporting projects are setting the example.”