• Information accompanying entries for the award must be current, accurate and complete. The Judging Panel reserves the right to disqualify any submission for failure to comply with the required criteria.
• Sharjah Press Club reserves the right, as delegated by the Judging Panel, to withdraw any award category if it deems that the criteria of participation have not been met.
• The Judging Panel reserves the right to modify the category of any participation if a conformance error is detected. The work will then be evaluated based on the requirements of a new category.
• The Judging Panel reserves the right to eliminate any participation that insults any person, religion, ethnicity or race.
• Sharjah Press Club reserves the right to use the participating work for media publicity or reproduce the submission for promotional purposes. Work submitted will not be returned to their owners.
• The Judging Panel’s decision shall be considered final and no communication in this regard will be entertained unless it relates to improving the mechanisms of the award.

Sorting Committee:

The Sorting Committee is divided into two groups that work over two stages:

First Stage:

• The government communication team at Sharjah Press Club will screen the participations to make sure that all criteria have been met prior to submitting the entries to the Judging Panel (with the names withheld).
• Members of the initial shortlisting panel are appointed by the Sharjah Press Club in concurrence with the initial selection and final selection committees.

Second Stage:

• Employees who participate in government communication activities and initiatives at Sharjah Press Club will select a maximum of five entrants in each category and present them to the Judging Panel for further consideration.
• The preliminary selection committee reserves the right to consult with external experts when deemed necessary.
• Final entrants will be selected based on the evaluation criteria that pertain to each category.
• No member of the committee can have a financial or personal interest in any participating organisation or share a financial or personal relationship with any participating individual.

Judging Committee:

• The final selection will be evaluated by a Judging Panel comprising Arab government communication experts.
• Final entries will be judged based on the evaluation criteria that pertain to each category, with each member evaluating the files individually through a special electronic system.
• In its last meeting, the committee will select the winners and the three nominees for each category after the ratings are compared and approved. No member of the Judging Panel can have a financial or personal interest in any participating organisation or share a financial or personal relationship with any participating individual.
• The Judging Panel works unanimously. In special cases where a member is assigned the responsibility of evaluating the participating work individually:

The head of the Judging Panel and his deputy are responsible for the evaluation process in any circumstance or event that is not included in the initial text for the GCA and does not form part of the website content and/or the award’s booklet. The head of the Judging Panel and his deputy may also consult with any of the Panel’s members or other parties as they deem suitable. The Judging Panel will document all its decisions for consideration by the GCA team towards preparations for the next edition of the award.

Contesting the Results

Results of the awards cannot be contested with the decision of the Judging Panel considered final. Nonetheless, the committee welcomes suggestions or constructive criticism that will contribute to enhancing the scope of the Government Communication Award.

Disclaimer - Sharjah Government Media Bureau

Sharjah Government Media Bureau is not responsible for any loss, damage or delay in the submissions. Making a submission is not a guarantee for winning the award.