The 17th edition of the prestigious UAE Young Lions Digital Competition, hosted by Motivate Media Group and Motivate Val Morgan – the official UAE representative of Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, in association with Dubai Media City took place on Saturday 20th April 2019 at the offices of Motivate Media in Dubai Media City. The Judging and Awards Ceremony followed on Monday 22nd April 2019 at the In5 Media Innovation Centre in Dubai Production City, with Arwa Al Jundi (Art Director) and Warsha J. Dhemani (Copywriter) from Livingroom Communication named the Gold winners of the competition.
The wining duo was selected from a pool of 16 participating teams, and will be flown on an all-expense paid trip to Cannes to represent the UAE at the International Young Lions Digital Competition, which will be held in June 2019.
Not too far behind them were Sumer Kotwal (Art Director) and Gaurav Maitreya (Copywriter) from Publicis Sapient (Gold winners of last year’s UAE Young Lions Digital Competition) who bagged Silver.
With so many creative ideas and inspiring submissions, determining the Bronze winner was a challenge, and this year, the UAE Young Lions Digital Competition saw a tie between three teams – Felipe Menezes (Art Director) and Sabine Haddad (Copywriter) from TBWA\RAAD, Alan Hong (Art Director) and Poroma Pant (Copywriter) from Saatchi & Saatchi Dubai, and Nour Mohammad (Art Director) and Peter Mazloumian (Copywriter) from Socialize.
Other participating agencies at this year’s competition included:
Leo Burnett Dubai, APCO Worldwide, Mullenlowe MENA, Publicis Middle East, RAPP Middle East, Wavemaker, Amber Communications, Rain Creative, and McCann Health Dubai.
The ‘Creative Club’ who judged this year’s competition comprised:
Manuel Bordé – TBWA\RAAD
Prajakta More – McCann Health Dubai
Ali Shabaz – RAPP Middle East
Georgine Hajjar – Wavemaker
Mohamed Bareche – Publicis Middle East
Seyoan Vela – Livingroom Communication
Samer Zouehid – Saatchi & Saatchi Dubai
Anton Marais – Leo Burnett
Prasad Pradhan – Amber Communications
Pascale Youssef – APCO Worldwide
Alfonso Arbos – Mullenlowe MENA
Shwan Nazar – Publicis Sapient
Shamrock Nevis – Rain Creative
Rafael Bergamini – Socialize Agency
Shyam Vipin – Praxis Advertising
This year’s client was World Food Programme (WFP) – the food- assistance branch of the United Nations and the world’s largest humanitarian organization addressing hunger, and the competition was sponsored by Getty Images and Xerox Middle East.
Ian Fairservice – Managing Partner, Motivate Media Group, said “After 17 years of hosting the Young Lions competition, we have seen some inspiring work from these exceptional young professionals. This year is certainly not different and I’d like to wish Arwa and Warsha from Livingroom Communication the best of luck representing the region in Cannes. I’m sure they will be great ambassadors for the UAE.”
Majed Al Suwaidi – Managing Director of Dubai Media City, said: “Dubai Media City is proud to collaborate once again with the UAE Young Lions and Motivate to encourage the rise of digital platforms and the region’s creativity. As our mandate to support the growing upcoming talent, the UAE Young Lions and Motivate competition provides the opportunity for our people to gain recognition and grow their careers. Our partnership, with the collaboration of our incubator in5 media, looks forward to a successful outcome and we wish all the participants great learnings every success.”
Congratulations to the winners and a job well done to all 16 teams that participated in this year’s competition.
The UAE Young Lions Digital Competition – hosted by Motivate Media Group and Motivate Val Morgan, in association with Dubai Media City and supported by Getty Images and Xerox Middle East, aims to unveil the brightest creative minds from across the UAE, and is part of the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity – the world’s biggest celebration of creativity in communications. The International Festival will take place from the 17th to the 21st of June 2019 in the city of Cannes, located on France’s mesmerizing south coast and will offer five days of award ceremonies, seminars, workshops, master classes, exhibitions, screenings and networking.
Dubai Studio City – the region’s leading business community for the broadcasting, production and events sectors recently announced the launch of CineMENA, a unique platform that celebrates the art of content creation and nurtures local talent in the field.
The initiative aims to assist budding filmmakers and content creators in enhancing their skills through an annual agenda of events which include workshops, masterclasses and training sessions by industry influencers, actors and filmmakers.
Set to officially take place in February 2019, CineMENA will comprise multiple activations, an exhibition showcasing the latest technologies and trends, outdoor film screenings, and thought sessions focused on all aspects of the art and craft of content creation.
CineMENA will also introduce a new competition to recognize local and regional talent across four categories – Best Short Film, Best Short Documentary, Best Music Video, and Best Film inspired by the Founding Father of the UAE, Late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan. Winners will be selected by a specialized jury committee.
Majed Al Suwaidi, Managing Director of Dubai Studio City, said: “In line with our core priority of nurturing a creative community through identifying, supporting and honing talent in the media and content creation industry, we are proud to announce the launch of CineMENA, our new platform that celebrates excellence in media across the MENA region.”
He added: “The media industry today features multiple platforms for different types of content creators and some of these stipulate a high number of followers as a prerequisite. In contrast, CineMENA caters to all ages and levels of expertise – from new entrants to seasoned professionals – equipping participants with the necessary skills and tools to create engaging content. Local content from the MENA region has a relatively low representation on a global level. We are keen for CineMENA to change the status quo through actively promoting locally produced content in both Arabic and English. We aspire to bring together passionate individuals to learn, generate content, and network with other members and stakeholders of the creative community.”
Jamal Al Sharif, Chairman of the Dubai Film and TV Commission, said: “For over a decade, there has been no doubt that the region has made significant strides in the content creation industry, and we intend to provide all the facilities to support our local talent. With CineMENA, we aim to build a platform where content creators can learn, inspire, network and explore new prospects. The initiative is poised to benefit all aspiring creators, whether they belong to the filmmaking, screenwriting, or pre- and post-production fields. CineMENA will provide our young people with an ideal opportunity to showcase their talent while helping develop the regional visual content creation sector and encouraging creativity.”
Over the past three years, Dubai Studio City organized diverse workshops in all aspects of film and media production that saw participation of over 2,000 amateurs and professionals from the region. In 2018, the community hosted 12 workshops in collaboration with the Emirati production house ‘Behind the Scenes’ at In5, Media Innovation Centre in Dubai Production City that supports entrepreneurs and startups in the media domain. Led by Mohammad Salam, Managing Director of Behind the Scenes, and conducted by award-winning specialists, the workshops covered topics such as Sound Recording, Cinematography, Voice and Speech, Post-production, and Directing.
Sources: Tabloid, MENA Herald and Digital Studio Middle East
