South Africa Conference Explores African Media Perspectives
Egyptian web-site Cairolive.com named finalist in African internet innovators contest

SUMMARY
Egyptian web site http://www.cairolive.com was named the runner-up finalist at the most prestigious African New Media event of the year. The INNOVATIVE USE OF NEW MEDIA IN AFRICA awards are given out annually to web sites that demonstrate a clear understanding of the emerging trends in media and technology, and show exceptional innovative/entrepreneurial spirit in an African context.

RELEASE
CAIRO (OCTOBER 1, 2001)
AFRICAN JOURNALISM IN THE DIGITAL AGE was the theme of this year's 2001 Highway Africa conference in Grahamstown, South Africa. The conference named www.cairolive.com as one of two finalists in the individual category of the prestigious INNOVATIVE USE OF NEW MEDIA IN AFRICA awards. The awards are the result of a continent-wide search for African individuals who have shown exceptional innovative/entrepreneurial spirit in an African context.

Since its launch in 1997, the Highway Africa conference held in Grahamstown, South Africa has developed a reputation for engaging in the most important issues facing New Media practitioners in Africa. Hosted by the Department of Journalism and Media Studies, Rhodes University, South Africa and the South African Broadcasting Corporation, the Highway Africa Conference is considered by the hundreds of academic, business, NGO and government participants as the most valuable New Media event on the continent.

According to Tarek Atia, founder and director of cairolive.com, the finalist ranking at the Highway Africa conference is a real boost to cairolive.com because it is an early recognition of the way the internet can affect cross-cultural communication and development in Africa and the Middle East . "New media certainly has the potential to change the face of Africa, connecting Africans to a potentially limitless information exchange system that can only serve to strengthen ties between people, and catalyze innovation within societies. We hope cairolive.com continues to be a part of that exciting process."

Considered the first Egyptian news website, Cairolive.com has been providing Egyptian news, views and entertainment in a daily web format to a variety of readers around the world since 1996. Begun as a means of keeping Egyptians around the world in touch with their motherland, cairolive.com continues to explore the possibilities for cross-cultural communication opened up by the Internet. Its future projects include cairokids.com, a web site providing vital information for parents on children's health, education and development, and several other web and non-web based ventures.

Amongst the many positive comments cairolive.com has received from readers is that the site's coverage of events is "a great refreshing change from what I've been noticing online: witty, interesting, and really well written."

A tech journalist has written that, "The nice thing about Cairolive is that it has a personal touch. As for the other Egyptian sites in this genre they're so plastic -- that's what happens when content is created by businesspeople."

Business Monthly magazine in Cairo recently called the site an "edifying experience... [with] absorbing content and [an] all-around friendly feel."

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