A diverse jury of authors, actors, news media personalities, and cultural ambassadors awards the Best Documentary Short and Student Visionary Award prizes. Learn more about the jury, which includes Sheikha Al Mayassa bint Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani, Bobby Cannavale, Gael Greene, A.J. Jacobs, and Rachel Maddow.
Sheikha Al Mayassa bint Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani
Her Excellency Sheikha Al Mayassa bint Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani is the chairperson of the Qatar Museums Authority Board of Trustees. She has played a leading role in the fields of culture, education, and outreach, spearheading and supporting various local and international organizations. Her pioneering initiatives in promoting world dialogue through a multitude of progressive platforms have made her one of the most active and innovative global figures in peacemaking and humanitarian issues through cultural outreach. Under her aegis, the Qatar Museums Authority recently opened the widely acclaimed Museum of Islamic Art, designed by I.M. Pei, whose collection of Islamic art and artifacts is considered without parallel. Through the umbrella of the QMA, her goals are to create bridges between the past and present, East and West. Sheikha Al Mayassa attended both primary and secondary school in Doha, and later received a double-major BA in political science and literature from Duke University in the United States. In addition to her cultural initiatives, H. E. Sheikha Al Mayassa is chairperson of Reach Out To Asia (ROTA), a philanthropic Non-Governmental Organization. She conceived and initiated the Doha Tribeca Film Festival, to be held in November.
Bobby Cannavale
Bobby Cannavale made his Tony-nominated Broadway debut in Theresa Rebeck’s Mauritius and received rave reviews in the recent off-Broadway revival of Hurlyburly. On television, Bobby won an Emmy for outstanding guest star in a comedy for his performance as Will’s boyfriend in Will and Grace. He has appeared in many series, including a recurring role on HBO’s Six Feet Under. He can currently be seen starring in his own series for ABC, in which he plays the title character Cupid. Bobby’s film credits include The Station Agent, for which he and his costars were nominated for a SAG Award and won the Audience Award at the Sundance Film Festival. Other film credits include Diminished Capacity, Dedication, The Ten, Fast Food Nation, The Night Listener, Snakes on a Plane, Haven, Shall We Dance, Happy Endings, Romance and Cigarettes, The Postman, Night Falls on Manhattan, Gloria, The Bone Collector, and Washington Heights. Cannavale was last seen in the feature comedy Paul Blart: Mall Cop opposite Kevin James.
Gael Greene
Gael Greene spent 40 years as the Insatiable Critic for New York Magazine, where she helped change the way New Yorkers think about food. Recently she was inexplicably fired. Fortunately we can still read her critical comments about restaurants in BITE, her restaurant blog on her web site InsatiableCritic.com. Greene is also the author of two bestselling novels: Blue Skies, No Candy and Dr. Love. Her book Delicious Sex was a guide to having more fun in bed. Much sensuous eating, dancing, and living spices up her memoir, Insatiable: Tales from a Life of Delicious Excess. Twenty-eight years ago Ms. Greene and the late James Beard cofounded Citymeals on Wheels, which by December 2008 had delivered more than 39 million meals to New York City's needy, homebound elderly.
Photo credit: Steven Richter
A.J. Jacobs
A.J. Jacobs is the author of the New York Times best sellers The Year of Living Biblically and The Know-It-All. He is the editor at large of Esquire magazine. He lives in New York City.
In support of Stand Up to Cancer, and in honor of his grandmother, A.J. Jacobs Stands Up to Cancer. Stand up at su2c.org.
Rachel Maddow
Rachel Maddow hosts MSNBC’s The Rachel Maddow Show, which features Maddow’s take on the biggest stories of the day, political and otherwise, including lively debate with guests from all sides of the issues, in-depth analysis, and stories no other shows in cable news will cover. Maddow also continues to host her eponymous show on Air America. In January of 2008, Maddow was named an MSNBC political analyst. She was a regular panelist on MSNBC’s Race for the White House with David Gregory and a frequent contributor on Countdown with Keith Olbermann, which she regularly guest hosts. Maddow has worked with Air America Radio since its inception in the spring of 2004. Prior to joining AAR she worked for WRNX in Holyoke, Massachusetts, and WRSI in Northampton, Massachusetts. Maddow received a bachelor’s degree in public policy from Stanford University. She earned her doctorate in political science at Oxford University, which she attended on a Rhodes Scholarship. She lives in New York City and Massachusetts with her partner, artist Susan Mikula.
