We are pleased and proud to announce that "The Challenge" was awarded the UN 21 Awards' top prize in Communication.

"As the name of the Awards suggests, our objective is to honour staff members and initiatives that help to strengthen the United Nations in the twenty-first century. We strive to share good practices and explore creative ways of fulfilling our responsibilities more effectively" said UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon at the opening of the awards ceremony in New York.

Marking its 17th year, UN 21 Awards received a record number of 100 nominations from across the United Nations agencies and missions with finalists chosen in each of the five categories: efficiency, knowledge management, greening, staff volunteerism and communication.

UNIFIL's production "The Challenge" took the top prize in the category Communication — "to best tell the story of our work in meaningful and engaging ways to people around the world."

"The Challenge" ("Khebz-o Meleh" in Arabic) is a production of the Public Information Office's Video Unit. The concept brings together eight journalism graduate students from the Lebanese University in Beirut and sixteen of UNIFIL's contingents. Each student was given only one day with one UNIFIL contingent and, under the direction of the Video Unit, set out to explore the responsibilities, activities and culture of their assigned contingent.

"The Challenge" went on air in September of 2012 on several Lebanese TV stations and on UNIFIL's Facebook page, YouTube Channel and Website.

Since then, roughly two new episodes have aired each month with the last of the 16 episodes scheduled for late November/early December.

Recipients of the UN 21 Awards– Communication: "The Challenge"

Ramin Francis Assadi – Producer/Director/Editor
Mohamad Hamze – Video Camera Operator
Suzanne Badereddine – Post Production Assistant

To watch "The Challenge" visit:

YouTube in English or YouTube in Arabic