2016 has been a big year for Jordan, so much has happened from locally produced films winning big at international awards to athletes grabbing gold medals and more.
We picked our five Jordanian favorite winners:
1. Noor Gammoh wins $1.9 million Cancer research fund
Noor Gammoh, a doctor at the University of Edinburgh, was awarded a $ 1.9 million by Cancer Research UK to fund new treatments for the most common type of brain cancer, glioblastoma. Gammoh who graduated from the University of Edinburgh in 2000, will set up her own research team at the Cancer Research UK Centre.
2. Ayat Amer is the first Arab woman at NASA’s training program
Ayat Amer became the first Arab women to be accepted into NASA’s training program. Ayat is a fourth year engineering student at the Hashemite University. In 2013, she also won first place at Microsoft’s programming competition and received two scholarships to study in the US and Germany.
3. Ahmad Abu Ghaush grabs Jordan’s first Olympic gold
Ahmad Abu Ghaush was Jordan’s first Gold medal winner at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. He won the medal competing in Taekwondo and became the first Arab to win a gold medal.
4. Amjad Tadros wins an Emmy
Amjad Tadros won an Emmy at the 37th Annual News and Documentary Emmy Awards in New York. He received the award as part of the CBS show 60 Minutes team, who prepared a documentary about the deadly sarin nerve gas attack in Syria.
5. Fouad Jeryes wins at Startup Istanbul
Fouad Jeryes, the founder of e-commerce startup Cash Basha, won first place at Startup Istanbul. The competition started with more than 25,000 startups from around the world and only 100 were called to compete in Istanbul. Cash Basha allows people in the Arab region to shop through Amazon without a credit card.