Bisan Owda Biography: Age, Net Worth, Height, Education, Family, Recognition, Career and Awards 2024
Bisan Owda (Arabic: بيسان عودة; born in 1997 or 1998) is a Palestinian journalist, activist, and filmmaker. She has gained prominence for her social media videos that capture her experiences during the Israel–Hamas conflict in the Gaza Strip.
In recognition of herwork, she received a 2024 Peabody Award in the News category, as well as an Edward R. Murrow Award for News Series for her program on Al Jazeera Media Network titled, It’s Bisan from Gaza and I’m Still Alive.
Additionally, this program has been nominated for the 2024 News and Documentary Emmy Awards in the category of Outstanding Hard News Feature Story: Short Form.
| Bisan Owda Wikipedia | |
|---|---|
| بيسان عودة | |
| Born | 1997 or 1998 (age 25–26)[1] |
| Occupation(s) | Journalist, filmmaker |
| Known for | Documenting the Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip on social media |
| Awards | Peabody Award, Edward R. Murrow Award |
Early Life and Career
Owda was raised in Beit Hanoun, where she developed a passion for storytelling at an early age, alongside interests in reading, basketball, and astronomy.
She has collaborated with various organizations on a range of issues. As a participant in the UN Women’s Youth Gender Innovation Agora Forum, she has focused on promoting gender equality. Additionally, she has partnered with the European Union to address climate change and serves as an EU Goodwill Ambassador. Owda is also affiliated with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).
In her professional endeavors, Owda produces a program titled Hakawatia, which explores Palestinian history and culture, broadcasted by Roya TV. Furthermore, she has created educational videos in Palestinian Arabic for the YouTube channel Easy Languages.
During the escalation of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in May 2021, Owda utilized Instagram to share videos aimed at raising international awareness regarding the situation in Gaza.
Israel–Hamas war 2023
Reporting and activism
After the IDF told Gaza residents to evacuate from the North of Gaza in October 2023, Owda and her parents relocated from Beit Hanoun to All-time Hospital. Her family’s home and her office in Rimal were both bombed, destroying all of Owda’s filming equipment.
As a result, Owda uses her phone to record video. From Al-Shifa Hospital, Owda reported on the spread of illness among the 50,000 displaced people who lacked adequate shelter, water, and sanitation.
On November 3, Owda witnessed the Al-Shifa ambulance airstrike. Owda documented the “increasingly critical situation” on social media, reporting a lack of food and water, destruction of solar panels, and bombings. She was displaced from Al-Shifa Hospital after it was sieged by the IDF in mid-November and reported that injured people were dying due to the lack of medical care. She posted videos of her journey walking south to Khan Yunis in which she described dead bodies on the side of the road and interviewed other refugees.
In early December, Owda posted: “I no longer have any hope of survival like I had at the beginning of this genocide”. She also wrote about dealing with nightmares and illness. Her statement was cited in several news articles which referenced the killing of journalists in the Israel–Hamas war.
Later that month, Owda posted that she had to cut her hair because she did not have adequate water or supplies to care for it. She also reported on the lack of bathrooms and menstrual pads in the Khan Yunis refugee camp.
In a viral Instagram post, Owda joined others in calling for a global strike on December 11 in support of a ceasefire in Gaza. She asked her followers to “boycott everything”. The strike was observed by people from multiple countries, including the United States, Lebanon, and the UK. Participants attended protests, closed businesses, and refrained from spending money.
In February 2024, Owda reported on the Flour Massacre. She stated that Palestinians in Gaza were experiencing “forced starvation” and that the IDF had killed them while they were running towards aid trucks.
In April, Owda was one of more than 24 Palestinian journalists who signed a letter calling for other journalists to boycott the White House Correspondents Dinner in protest of the killing of Palestinian journalists and the Israeli blockade of aid to Gaza. Other signatories included Said Arikat, Mariam Barghouti, and Mohammed El Kurd. Later that month, she praised the pro-Palestinian protests on university campuses, saying that they gave her hope.
Recognition
Along with other Palestinian journalists, Owda has been credited with humanizing Gaza for an international audience. She has been said to be “providing a human lens”, “putting a face to the conflict”, and putting “a human face on the realities of daily life in Gaza”.
Her social media followers have expressed concern for her safety. An essay in the Los Angeles Review of Books stated that Owda and other Palestinian journalists reporting from Gaza “charge their viewers with complicity and regularly demand that we act”.
By early 2024, Owda had been depicted in two murals, one in Edinburgh and one in London.
In May 2024, Owda won a Peabody Award in the News category for her Al Jazeera Media Network show, It’s Bisan from Gaza and I’m Still Alive. In a statement, the Peabody board of jurors wrote: “Reporting from her makeshift tent outside the medical center, she shows what survival looks like for her and the masses around her”.
The award was presented by Mo Amer, and Owda attended the ceremony via video. In her acceptance speech, Owda dedicated her award to people protesting in support of Palestine and called for: “an end to the genocide, a ceasefire, and a free Palestine”.
In July 2024, It’s Bisan from Gaza and I’m Still Alive was nominated for the 45th News and Documentary Emmy Awards for Outstanding Hard News Feature Story: Short Form.
Pro-Israel nonprofit Creative Community for Peace called for the nomination to be rescinded, alleging Owda was a member of Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, which the United States designated as a terrorist organization, and publishing a open letter signed by 150 people involved in the entertainment industry, such as Haim Seban, Selma Blair and Debra Messing.
The president of National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, Adam Sharp, announced Owda’s nomination would not be rescinded, writing that “NATAS has been unable to corroborate these reports” of Owda’s alleged involvement and “found no grounds, to date, upon which to overturn the editorial judgment of the independent journalists who reviewed the material.”
In August 2024, It’s Bisan from Gaza won an Edward R. Murrow Award in the News Series category.
Awards and nominations
| Year | Award | Category | Work | Result | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | Peabody Awards | News | It’s Bisan from Gaza and I’m Still Alive | Won | |
| Edward R. Murrow Award | News Series — Large Digital Organization | Won | |||
| News and Documentary Emmy Awards | Outstanding Hard News Feature Story: Short Form | Pending |
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