PRCA launches new award

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Public Relations and Communications Association Middle East and North Africa (PRCA MENA) has introduced a new award category for the upcoming awards ceremony that will be held on February 8, 2017. The ‘Influencers Relations’ award aims to recognise and honour the efforts of PRs and marketers that develop successful campaigns with the help of targeted influencer relations.

“I am pleased to announce that the Influencer Relations award has been added to the inaugural PRCA MENA Awards,” says Leanne Foy, General Manager, PRCA MENA. “We are all aware that our work spans further than media relations and the demand for this category displays exactly that.”

New award at Dubai Lynx

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The Dubai Lynx International Festival of Creativity has announced the launch of a new award category, The Innovation Award. The new award celebrates technological creativity and aims to support and promote the development of innovation across the industry. Ben Jones, former Chief Technology Officer, AKQA, has been elected as the Jury President for the new addition to Dubai Lynx. Entries for all award categories are open from November 24, 2016 with an ‘early bird’ rate until January 24, 2017. The final deadline for all entries is February 7, 2017.

“I can’t wait to be part of Dubai Lynx. I have always believed that the western world lives in isolation to the reality of greatness that comes from MENA and further afield. For me, innovation is the perfect blend of simplicity, thoughtfulness, naive excitement, timing and the ‘retrospective obvious’,” says Ben Jones, Jury President, Dubai Lynx International Festival of Creativity 2017. “It’s often in the new ways we communicate to the fresh business models that are created and quite often this is where the excitement lies and often without huge spend. These pillars shone through many of the entries from different categories at last year’s awards and I’m excited to see what entries come through this year.”

Entries for Festival of Media now open

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Festival of Media MENA is now accepting entries for its 2017 awards ceremony. The third edition of the festival launches a series of new award categories including Best Use of Traditional Media, Best Use of an Influencer, Best Use of Real-time Marketing, Best Branded Content Creation, Best use of Gamification, Best Insight Award, Best Local Execution of a Brand, The Creative Use of Data Award and Best Not-For-Profit Campaign. Following the entry deadline on February 2, 2017, the shortlisted nominees will be announced on March 15, 2017.

In collaboration with C Squared and Mediaquest, the festival will take place on April 26, 2017. Festival of Media MENA invites media agency networks and innovative media owners as well as marketers of the region to attend a one-day industry-centric conference and an awards ceremony to celebrate their work and achievements. The conference provides a platform for the attendees to discuss media trends and technologies as well as network with industry professionals to promote their initiatives to prospective clients and agencies.

Dubai Lynx announces press conference

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The 2017 Dubai Lynx International Festival of Creativity press conference will be held on December 5, 2016 at the CNN Building, Dubai Media City. The conference will focus on new initiatives for 2017, including the launch of an ‘Innovation Award’ and additions to the festival programme.

The press conference will be presented by Thea Skelton, Festival Director, Dubai Lynx, with panellists Terry Savage, Chairman, Lions Festivals; Ian Fairservice, Vice Chairman, Dubai Lynx; Khadija Al Bastaki, Director of Business Development, Dubai Media City; Hani Ghorayeb, President, IAA-UAE Chapter; Walid Yared, Chief Marketing Officer, Choueiri Group and Faisal Bin Haider, Chief Executive Officer – Printing and Distribution sector, Dubai Media Incorporated.

Dubai Lynx announces judges

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Dubai Lynx International Festival of Creativity 2017 has invited eight high-profile international jurors to judge The Dubai Lynx Awards. The festival will take place from March 5 -8, 2017 at Madinat Jumeirah Arena. Closing the festival on March 8, 2017, the awards ceremony will honour creative excellence in film, print, outdoor, radio, direct, promo and activation, media, interactive, film craft, print & poster craft, design, mobile, PR, integrated, creative effectiveness and branded content and entertainment advertising and communications.

“The jury presidents are a core element in ensuring that stand-out work rises to the top and leads the way for the year to come,” says Thea Skelton, Festival Director, Dubai Lynx. “We’re delighted to have such an experienced line-up to lead the discussions on creativity in MENA with their respective juries.”

APP Media Group to host Young Arab Awards

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APP Media Group is set to host the first Young Arab Awards on December 6, 2016 in the UAE. The awards aims to recognise young Arabs for their outstanding achievements in a number of fields including business, science and social media. They will also announce a winner for the Young Arab of the Year Award 2016. Nominees will be shortlisted by a panel of judges, including renowned author, Caher Khazaal, former UK Ambassador to Lebanon, Tom Fletcher and CEO, OMG MENA, Elie Khouri, as well as special guest of honour, Roger Waters from Pink Floyd. Nominations for the awards are currently open and can be made through www.youngarabawards.com.

“The achievements of young Arabs in the UAE is nothing short of incredible in so many different sectors,” says Caher Khazaal, Author, Confessions of a War Child trilogy.  “Choosing the winners will be no easy task, but we hope this event will give them the recognition they deserve. It is also a huge thrill for us to have Roger Waters on board. He is not just one of the world’s greatest ever musicians but a great philanthropist who has always been a strong supporter of the many regional issues we face.”

PHD to hold BrainScape conference in Dubai

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PHD’s annual conference BrainScape is set to take place in Dubai on October 10, 2016 with Wired UK’s magazine Editor, David Rowan as a keynote speaker. The conference, which will lead an expected audience of over 200 marketing and media professionals, will see Daniel Mcduff, Researcher at Microsoft, as another keynote speaker discussing how technology can embrace human emotions to enhance the effectiveness of marketing communications.

“Technology changes our lives every single day and at PHD we are constantly keeping our finger on the pulse in order to deliver a better way for our clients through cutting-edge practices and ideas,” says Elda Choucair, CEO, PHD MENA. “This year, we will tackle the challenge of assessing new behaviors arising from the adoption of new technologies which will allow us to collaboratively refine our approach to integrating our clients’ brands seamlessly into their consumers’ new realities, either physical, virtual or augmented.”

Voting opens for BBC Good Food ME Awards

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Voting has opened for the seventh annual BBC Good Food Middle East Awards, hosted by BBC Good Food Middle East magazine, part of CPI Media Group. There are 32 awards up for grabs this year, with new categories including; Best Afternoon Tea, Best Business Lunch and Best Food Delivery App. Voting for the awards closes on October 13, 2016 and winners will be announced at a ceremony on November 7, 2016.

“Our awards are all about celebrating the best in food across the region from a consumer’s point of view and along with new categories that can be voted for online, I’m excited to announce that we have added an ‘Up and Coming Chef of the Year’ award, which is a cook-off judged by a panel of experts and runs alongside our famous ‘Chef of The Year’ competition,” says Sophie McCarrick, Editor, BBC Good Food Middle East.

To vote in the awards, visit www.bbcgoodfoodme.com/awards/2016

Stylist Social Media Awards UAE winners announced

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The first ever Stylist Social Media Awards UAE, presented by The Apparel Group, took place last night at the Palazzo Versace Dubai. Curated by Stylist Arabia, part of APP Media Group, the Awards recognised digital innovators in fields of fashion, beauty, food, vlogging and travel and the winners were chosen by a public vote. The event was hosted by Kuwaiti social media star and make-up artist Fouz Alfahad and notable winners included Joelle Mardinian, who won Beauty Social Media Star of the Year as well as Most Inspirational Social Media Star; Taim Al Falasi, who won Travel Social Media Star of the Year and Vlogger of the year and Natalia Shustova who won Fashion Social Media Star of the year. Nominees for awards included Aiisha Ramadan, My Custard Pie, Mona Kattan and The Mothership.
“This is the first time that the UAE’s social influencers are being properly recognised, with the winners chosen by over 11,000 members of the public who voted for their favourite social media stars,” says Sue Holt, Executive Director, APP Media Group. “The growth of social media influencers has been phenomenal across the world and these awards honour the individuals making the biggest waves in a range of sectors.”

InsideOut Awards winners revealed

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UAE-based homes and interiors magazines InsideOut, part of Gulf News Publishing, revealed the winners of its second reader awards at a gala dinner held on Sunday, May 14 at the Music Hall, Jumeirah Zabeel Saray. Over eight weeks, 18,421 individual reader’s votes were cast over 12 categories and winners this year included; Four Seasons Ramesh Gallery, Rattan House, Home Centre and Dubai Garden Centre. This year’s Editor’s Choice Award was presented to RAK Ceramics, in recognition of the UAE company’s successes in the region as well as on a global scale.

“These awards were established to give our readers – the industry’s customers – a voice,” says Sharon Parsons, Editor, InsideOut. “We know from the solid relationship that we have with them just how passionate, discerning and smart they are when it comes to their homes. This knowledge has allowed us to refine the awards this year, introducing new categories to reflect how and where our readers shop. The fantastic results speak for themselves.”