The best bloggers in the world were presented with their awards at a ceremony held Monday at the Deutsche Welle Global Media Forum. The BOBS – Deutsche Welle Blog Awards – are selected and presented annually.

Tunisian blogger Lina Ben Mhenni was presented with the award for this years best blog. The 28-year-old professor at the University of Tunis has been writing about social and political events in her country in a blog called “A Tunisian Girl” for several years. She writes in French, English and Arabic.  “When I saw how people were being killed it became clear there was no going back,” said Ben Mhenni. “I had to ensure that the voices of these people and their families be heard so that they hadn’t died in vain.”

Find out more about the ceremony and the award winners in the official press release or on The BOBs website.

 

The fourth Deutsche Welle Global Media Forum commenced this morning with an opening ceremony and keynote session at the World Conference Center Bonn. This year’s conference is focusing on “Human Rights in a Globalized World – Challenges for the Media”.

The opening ceremony featured DW Director General Erik Bettermann, as well as Jürgen Nimptsch, Mayor of Bonn and Angelica Schwall-Düren, Minister for Federal affairs, Europe and the Media, State of North Rhine-Westphalia.

The keynotes will be held by Thorbjørn Jagland, Secretary General of the Council of Europe,  Morten Kjaerum, Director of the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights and Dunja Mijatovic, OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media.

You can check out today’s conference program here.

Read the official press release here or watch videos from the conference.

 

At the WorldMediaFestival in Hamburg, DW was recognized for several of its productions over the last year. DW’s documentary The Beethoven Project was awarded the Grand Prix at last week’s event. The 90-minute documentary from Christian Berger was broadcast in 2010. Berger and his camera team accompanied the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen and its conductor Paavo Järvi for several weeks as they performed some of Beethoven’s works.

The documentary has been awarded several prizes over the last year, including the “Creation Award” from “Eyes and Ears of Europe”, and at the film festivals in Montreal (Canada), Ghuangzhou (China), Rhode Island and Cincinnati (USA).

Find out more about The Beethoven Project or see a complete list of winners from the WorldMediaFestival.

 

Deutsche Welle (DW) and Bianor join forces to bring the German broadcaster’s on-demand videos to the connected TV screens around the globe. DW’s on-demand video library is now part of iMediaShare’s video channel lineup – available both in English and German.  Bianor’s iMediaShare is a mobile solution that enables users to personalize their TV experience. It provides easy access to video and audio content from various sources to let people enjoy their favorite content on any connected TV.

iMediaShare transforms the mobile handset into a personal all-in-one media manager that combines content portability with seamless media streaming and TV remote control functionality. “The content quality is key to the great TV experience. We are very excited to partner with Deutsche Welle and to deliver content from the leading broadcaster to the international audience”, says Metodi Filipov, Bianor’s Managing Director. “On-demand video consumption gains popularity as more people want to be in full control of what and when they watch. Unlike traditional TV broadcasting solutions iMediaShare is specially designed to address these needs”, adds Filipov.

“Working with such an innovative company like Bianor provides us with a great opportunity to expand into new areas of business”, says Petra Schneider, Deutsche Welle Director of Distribution. “We really do have something for every iMediaShare user with a selection of on-demand content that ranges from business and politics to sports, music, lifestyle and the arts – all produced in the heart of Europe”.

You can read the full press release here.

DW is once again contributing to the Young Media Summit, this year taking place from Tuesday, May 24 to Thursday May 26 in Cairo. The Young Media Summit is organized by Deutsche Welle’s DW Akademie in cooperation with the German Information Center Cairo. The conferences are being funded by the German Federal Foreign Office.

The Young Media Summit will feature 18 German and Arabic bloggers who will meet to discuss “new media and reform in the Arab World”, leading up to a podium discussion at Cairo University on Thursday.

In addition, DW will also be producing a talkshow during the conference, which will be broadcast throughout the Arab World on May 27.

If you want to find out more, just check out the Young Media Summit website.