Ali Gharsan Al Zahrani, Assistant to Editor in Chief, Okaz newspaper, receives the best coverage award for Haj1434 from the Minister of Haj Dr. Bandar Hajjar, center, in the annual party hosted by Minister of Haj in Hilton Hotel. — SG photo



Abdul Rahman M. Baig

Saudi Gazette

 

JEDDAH — The Ministry of Haj will hold Sunday its preparatory meetings for the next Haj season 2015 in order to come up with a comprehensive plan, said Haj Minister Dr. Bandar Hajjar during the annual event for heads of Haj affair offices and guests of the Haj Symposium on Wednesday night.



Hajjar called upon Muslim countries to prepare early for the next Haj season and educate their pilgrims about the Haj rites.



“It has become clear to us that the pilgrims whose countries prepare them early for Haj and offer them educational courses before arriving to the Kingdom perform the Haj rites easily and with great comfort. Besides, they know the regulations and rules and abide by it,” Hajjar said.



“He hoped all countries would educate their pilgrims next year and they can avail the help of the ministry in this regard. The ministry has an e-portal that provides information about Haj in various languages and there are phone numbers for centers that can be contacted for enquiries,” he said.



Next year, the ministry will implement the second phase of the electronic system, which will mark the full launch of the system. It was noticed that this year some Haj companies made use of the system while some did not.



Hajjar also presented Okaz newspaper with the Best Haj Coverage Award for Haj1434 and the award was received by Ali Gharsan Al-Zahrani, assistant to editor-in-chief.



Muhammad Bajunaid, members of the panel for best media work in Haj, said the award is given to the newspaper that showed professional coverage skills for Haj and Umrah activities.



In his speech, Al-Zahrani hoped that the award becomes a global one, stressing that Saudi journalists are capable of competing with the best and make a difference in the field. He lauded the role of the reporters who always exerted great efforts to cover the Haj news at all levels.



He and spoke highly of their sacrifices towards accomplishing this mission. He called upon the Ministry of Culture and Information to adopt an idea of building a tent specifically for all reporters in order to gather all Haj media missions in the same place.



Bakheet Al-Zahrani, from Al-Bilad daily, won the best report award, while Ali Al-Amri and Khairallah Zarban, from Al-Madina daily, won the best feature article award. From Al-Nadi daily, Naeem Al-Hakim wont the best media campaign award and Ahmad Hashad from Eqtisadiah daily won the best photograph award. Cartoonist Mineef Al-Shamari from Al-Riyadh daily won the best cartoon award.