Rima Maroun, the young Lebanese photographer, has been officially announced as the winner of the Anna Lindh Euro-Med Award for the Dialogue between Cultures in 2008. The Award, which is bestowed and voted on by the members of the Anna Lindh Foundation's networks of civil society present in over thirty countries, recognizes this year the contribution of art to promoting mutual understanding in the Euro-Mediterranean region.

The third edition of the Euro-Med Award for Dialogue between Cultures, an initiative of the Anna Lindh Foundation and its partner Fondazione Mediterraneo, was launched back in April 2008, with nominations received from civil society organizations across the region. For the very first time in this year's edition, members of the Anna Lindh Foundation region-wide network, totaling close to two thousand civil society organisations, participated in electing the winner, Rima Maroun.

Rima herself has gained recognition for the way in which she has used art as a tool and forum to promote mutual understanding in the region and raising awareness of the need for a continuous dialogue between people living and working on both shores of the Mediterranean.

"If I try to create an artistic work, it is because I am convinced that arts calls for real dialogue, real listening and real sharing; that it is one of the rare places where people can meet their human side", emphasizes Rima who, in addition to being a photographer, is also a talented young playwright and theatre performer.

Among her exceptional art works is the photographic project called 'Murmures' [whispers] produced in 2007 in the village of Qana, situated in southern Lebanon, where Rima photographed the daily life of a family of survivors after the Israeli war against Lebanon. This year Rima's Murmures was exhibited in many countries like Syria and France.

The five runners-up who have received an honourable mention are: Abed Abdi (Palestinian photographer), Ramzi Harrabi (Tunisian Painter, Poet, Singer), Katja Schaefer (German Artistic Director), Marcel De Munnynck (Belgian – Photography) and Atilla Durak (Turkish Photographer).

The official Awarding Ceremony is scheduled to take place in Naples, Italy, from the 26th to 27th of September. The ceremony will take place during the first meeting of the Anna Lindh Foundation's Advisory Council, composed of leading intellectuals and experts on intercultural dialogue from across the Euro-Mediterranean region, and there will be a number of renowned figures from the region attending in recognition of the young Lebanese artist's important achievements.