Every three years the Arab Towns Award Foundation holds a competition to recognize outstanding achievements in Architecture, Environmental Preservation, Greening and Beautification of Cities and Information Technology. In this 10th Session of the Arab Towns Organization (ATO) Award, Beit Sahour was awarded First Place for Architectural Heritage for its achievements and efforts in the Emergency Plan for the Revitalization of the Historic Town of Beit Sahour.

The Award, known as "Al Jaiza", is a prestigious and celebrated prize. This year the competition included 115 nominations from organizations, universities, cities and religious institutions from all over the Middle East. In the Architecture category there were 29 nominations in all, 9 in the division for Architectural Heritage. 

Beit Sahour Municipality, with technical support and cooperation from the Center for Cultural Heritage Preservation (CCHP), submitted the Emergency Plan for the Revitalization of the Historic Town of Beit Sahour.  The municipality originally began its work in architectural heritage preservation under the umbrella of the Bethlehem 2000 Project.  Since then, and particularly under the current administration, the preservation and revitalization of the Old City has been a chief priority.  Consequently, the cooperation between Beit Sahour Municipality and the CCHP has been long, active and vitally successful. The nomination also highlighted a number of implemented projects in the Old City such as Dar Dakarat and Dar Al Balad.

The Beit Sahour nomination faced steep competition from large and prestigious cities: the port of Domyat (Egypt) for the Bridge of Progress came in second; and Dukhan Old Airport and Mosque (Qatar) tied in third place with Al Montanabee Street in Baghdad (Iraq).

The ATO was established in 1967 with headquarters in Kuwait City; the ATO Award was established in 1983 with its headquarters in Doha, Qatar. The Award Foundation is comprised of 8 highly respected and qualified engineers and professors from all over the Arab World. The award ceremony is scheduled to take place in Doha, Qatar sometime in May. 

The announcement of the winners took place on February 11, 2010.  Information about the award and the final report may be found at www.aljaiza.org.

Note: This site is in Arabic but may be translated using various internet applications.