On May 27, 2013 three Journalism students at the Lebanese American University (LAU) received awards for the articles they wrote for an Article-Writing Contest on Gender-Based Violence (GBV). This contest jointly organized by the Institute for Women’s Studies in the Arab World (IWSAW) at LAU and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA)- Lebanon came as a result of 4-day training workshop that took place in April 2013 where 21 media students at LAU were trained on the legal, religious, societal, medical, and economic effects of GBV. The objective of the workshop was to sensitize young journalists on issues related to GBV and enable them to take a proactive role and become efficient agents in the fight against GBV by finding new angles for effectively and ethically reporting and covering GBV issues. The students were expected to submit articles which were reviewed by 5 jury members belonging to various sectors, and who are experts in the field of GBV.

The 1st prize winner Christine Saifi won an iPad for her article “In the Name of “Manhood”, religion and the Lebanese Constitution”. The second prize winner was Fatima Haidar, who received the amount of $300 for her Arabic written article thalath mia’t mughtasib li mra’a wahida [300 rapists for one woman only]. The third prize winner was Tala Basheer El-Issa who won a digital recorder for her article entitled “Adults since Childhood: The Psychology of Sexually Abused Girls”.