The Royal Television Society, the United Kingdom’s leading forum for television, has nominated Al Jazeera English (AJE) for its News Channel of the Year award.

AJE will be up against the BBC and Sky’s news channels at the ceremony which will be held on February 23 at the London Hilton on Park Lane.

It’s the second year running that the channel has been shortlisted. The nomination is for 2009/10 so comes before the recent acclaim for Al Jazeera's Tunisia and Egypt coverage.

“We are delighted to be nominated for such a prestigious award in the UK. This is a testament to the dedication of all of our staff, as well as AJE’s commitment to the highest quality journalism, story-telling, and coverage of global news,” said Al Anstey, managing director of Al Jazeera English.-TradeArabia News Service