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Rim Banna Award for Music Production

Reem Banna (1966-2018) was a Palestinian singer and author from Nazareth. She spent her life singing for the Palestinian cause, calling for the freedom of Palestine. She sang for the oppressed and sang for justice in Palestine and the world. Reem used to compose the songs she sang, thus creating a special and unique musical personality for herself. Reem struggled with cancer for more than eight years, but in the end it overcame her, and she passed away in 2018 in her hometown of Nazareth, Palestine.

The Award

The award aims to encourage the production of new songs that simulate the Palestinian cause or global humanitarian issues, in order to influence Arab and international public opinion and invite it to pay attention to the just cause in Palestine and issues of political and social justice around the world. The award is presented annually to composers or singers who apply to produce new original works, in order to produce them in the form of video clips and promote them locally and internationally. The song submitted to win the award may be a song in Arabic submitted by an Arab author or singer, or any International artist singing in a foreign language whose song aims to shed light on the Palestinian cause or another fair humanitarian cause may apply for the award. In some cases, more than one award can be presented per year, and this depends on the budgets that the artists nominated for the award submit to produce their works. Prize winners must complete their production within a period not exceeding six months.

About the Award

The Award value

The maximum prize value is twenty thousand dollars ($20,000) that can be presented to one or more winners. The award covers production expenses, including audio and video recording, and wages for writers, authors, directors, and musicians. A portion of the award value is allocated to promoting production on official platforms and social media platforms.

Award criteria

The award jury takes several criteria in selecting the winning song, including: the lyrics of the song, the melody presented, the singer’s voice, the names, and biographies of the production staff, including the producer, the music distributor, the video director, the musicians if they are known, and the mechanism of distribution and promotion.

Award management

The award is administered by the National Conservatory of Music. It forms an annual committee to select the award winner. The institute also undertakes the process of promoting the award and follows up on the production process. The institute assists artists in the production process, as it provides a studio in Ramallah for recording songs. In Amman, Jordan, a studio "Levant" is also available for this purpose. The award committee selects 3-5 applicants based on the information they provided in the application and initial registration. These applicants are then interviewed and based on the interview, the winner of this award is chosen. The committee submits the name of the winner to the award sponsor for approval.

Apply for the Award

To apply for the award, the concerned artists must fill out the relevant form electronically, which is available here. They must also attach the lyrics of the proposed song and its basic melody, sung in principle and photographed on the phone at least, and send it in the form of an mp4 file. The applicant for the award shall also attach links to their previous work, if any. The door to apply for the award opens on March 24 of each year, which coincides with the anniversary of Reem Banna’s death, and the door for applications closes on September 24.