Muscat:The Ministry of Information is set to host the 2026 Media Excellence Competition awards ceremony next Monday at the Ministry's theater to honor the winners in various fields of the competition.
According to Oman News Agency, the competition is designed to motivate national media personnel towards creativity and innovation, highlight their achievements, and foster positive competition among media institutions and individuals. It also aims to support digital media and electronic content creation while documenting the winning works.
The competition is categorized into four main fields press, radio, television, and electronic media. It targets media institutions, individual practitioners, media enthusiasts, and media students in academic institutions. Press categories include press articles, interviews, investigative journalism, and photojournalism. Radio categories cover talk shows, family programs, radio dramas, and cultural programs. Television categories encompass talk and sports shows, variety programs, documentary programs and films, children's programs, and governorate reports.
The electronic media field comprises electronic broadcasting channel programs, podcasts, digital media campaigns, institutional electronic newspapers, news accounts, and social media content creation for individuals, alongside electronic content for media students in higher education institutions. The prize for the first-place winner in each category is valued at RO 1,500.
Held biennially, the competition provides an opportunity for presenting distinguished works and expanding competitive participation options, allowing necessary time for preparation and readiness. Preceding the awards ceremony, several events will take place, including a lecture titled “Future Media Creativity and Innovation in the Era of Artificial Intelligence” by Abdulwahed Al Qahtani from Saudi Arabia on 25 October. Additionally, a workshop on “Writing Television Drama Scripts” will be led by writer and trainer Hassan Dahshan from Egypt on 25 and 26 October.
The Media Excellence Competition, which launched its first edition in 2004, is a national initiative aimed at supporting media creativity and strengthening the role of media as an active partner in achieving the objectives of Oman Vision 2040.