Sarah Al Gethami, a Saudi student at Dubai’s Middlesex University, won the Dubai International Film Festival Young Journalist Award.

DIFF closed this weekend. The Young Journalist Award programme is in partnership with CNBC Business and Screen International, and welcomed 10 pre-selected students.

Mentors were Screen editor Mike Goodridge and Colin Brown of CNBC Business.

There were workshops and sessions on reviews, interviewing industry professionals, and using new technologies such as blogs and Twitter.

The young students’ work was also published in the festival’s DIFF Daily.

Winner Al Gethami said: “I had a true experience of film journalism at DIFF. I interviewed a lot of people, which was a first for me. Overall, it was totally gratifying and a memorable event for me.”

Dubai launched the programme for aspiring journalists in 2008.