Mr Jean Plantureux-Plantu

Head of the Pierre Sadek Foundation jury for the competition “La Plume de Pierre”, Plantu dropped his medical studies in 1971 and moved to Brussels to enroll in drawing courses at the École Saint-Luc. In 1972, he was hired at the newspaper “Le Monde” where he published his first humorous cartoon on the Vietnam War. Since 1991, he has published a weekly page at L’Express magazine.

In 2002, he met with UN Secretary General Kofi Annan in Paris to arrange a convention gathering international cartoonists, ultimately creating the Cartooning for Peace organization in 2006. “Cartooning for Peace” promotes freedom of expression in the world and has more than 140 participants today.

Plantu has participated in a large number of collective and individual exhibitions in France and throughout the world and has received numerous awards for his work. Among them are the Honoris Causa Prize of the University of Liège in Belgium, in September 2013 and in 2016, and the European “Maria Helena Vaz da Silva” Prize awarded by the National Culture Center of Lisbon in Portugal.

He has published more than 65 books

Mrs Luce Mondor

Luce Mondor is an associate professor of Modern Letters, a Doctor of French Literature and Civilization and a professor of General Knowledge at DSAA Design.

She is also a pedagogical adviser to the IUFM (Institut de Formation des Maîtres) and responsible for cultural events at the Estienne School (Estiennales, Presse Citron, exhibitions, conferences, annual internal publication “Les Mots dits”). Mrs Mondor is the author of books and publications on the literature of exile, Caribbean literature, humor and discrepancy.

She has organized writing workshops with Daniel Pennac, Jean-Bernard Pouy and Philippe Di Folco and created in 2016 l’Agence Frontale, a consultancy agency in cultural communication.

In 1993, she held the Trophée Presse Citron, a national competition for press design, which became the Trophée Presse Citron / BnF in 2014.

Dr Tarek Mitri

Tarek Mitri is the director of the Fares Institute of Public Policy and International Affairs at the American University of Beirut (AUB).

From 2005 to 2011, he served in four successive Lebanese governments as Minister of the Environment, Minister of Administrative Reform, Minister of Culture, Minister of Information and Minister of Foreign Affairs. Between 2012 and 2014, he was the special representative of the United Nations Secretary General for Libya.

He has held various positions in the field of intercultural and interreligious dialogue. He has taught at Université Saint-Joseph (USJ), Balamand University, the University of Geneva, the Free University of Amsterdam, Harvard University and the American University of Beirut (AUB).

He chairs the Councils of the Nicolas Sursock Museum and the Institute of Palestinian Studies. He is also a member of the Strategic Council of Université Saint-Joseph (USJ) and a member of the Arab Center for Research and Political Studies.

He has written several books and articles on contemporary Arab conflicts, religion, politics, interreligious and intercultural dialogue.

Mrs May Menassa

Mrs. Menassa is a writer, novelist, journalist, literary and artistic critic and lecturer with a bachelor’s degree in French literature.

She presented programs on Télé Liban until 1968 and made her debut in journalism in the cultural page of the daily newspaper Annahar.

Mrs Chadia Tueni

Mrs. Chadia Tuéni is a member of the Executive Committee of the Sursock Museum, a member of the National Heritage Foundation and a member of APSAD (Association for the Protection of Sites and Ancient Abodes in Lebanon).

Between 1990 and 1994, she was a member of the Association of Friends of Balamand and CEO of the El-Bourj Library between 2003 and 2016.

Mr Gaby Nasr

Mr. Gaby Nasr is the director of the Lebanese daily newspaper L’Orient-Le Jour’s special editions and head of the newspaper’s social media department. He is also the author of weekly satirical notes summarizing the news of the week. He resides in Beirut where, for many years, he was a correspondent of war for Europe 1 and Radio Monte Carlo / Middle East, covering the events of Lebanon.

He was also a correspondent in Beirut for Radio Suisse Romande and the French-language service for the BBC. He occasionally worked with the French newspaper “Le Parisien”, as well as with the Swiss newspapers “24 Heures” and “Tribune de Genève”.

Omar Sadek

Omar Sadek holds a B.A in economics, political science, communication and marketing from the American University of Beirut and the Lebanese American University. He also holds a Master degree in Media and Communication from the London School of Economics (LSE).

He started his career at Grey Advertisement Agency. Afterwards, he redirected his professional career to work as head of the marketing department at Future TV, where he became chief executive. He joined Impact BBDO Beirut in 2007 where he held the position of Development Officer. His knowledge and expertise in multiple communication fields led him to the creation of a new media and political communication department at the Beirut Agency. This work earned him a medal of recognition from the Lebanese Ministry of Interior during the legislatives elections of 2009.

He taught media and communication strategy at the Académie Libanaise des Beaux-Arts (ALBA).

Mr Sadek won many advertisement and communication prizes while working with local, regional and international television programs, in particular with his “Cheyef Halak?” campaign.

Ziyad Baroud

Ziyad Baroud served as minister of interior and municipalities from 2008 to 2011. It is under his leadership that the United Nations awarded the Ministry of Interior its first Public service prize in 2010.

Before he was elected, Ziyad Baroud was a member of the Lebanese National Commission on electoral law and a member of the executive board in the Lebanese section of the international transparency in 2005.

In 2013, he was nominated president of the special governmental commission for decentralization and was elected secretary general of the Lebanese association for parliamentary elections in 2014.

He is currently a member of the Lebanese Political Science Center Council at Notre-Dame de Louaizé University.

He has won several local and international prizes over the years.

Philippe Abi Akl

Philippe Abi Akl is a journalist and a member of the Lebanese Press Council.

He is the founder and director of the Press Agency Al Markazia, and the director of Al Farej printing press.

He is also a journalist at l’Orient-le-jour and in several local and international newspapers such as An-Nahar, El Safir, Semaine Arabe, Magazine and Daily Star.

He also worked at international press agencies like AFP News, Associated Press, United Press, and participated in regional and international conferences in Doha, Geneva and Lausanne. Mr. Abi Akl contributed to the editing of “Oumara El Tawaef”, a book about the Lebanese civil war.

He is vice president of the Byblos International Festival.