Winners of the UAE Young Creative Competition plan trip to Cannes

21 teams from all over the UAE and one team from Kuwait were present; each comprising a copywriter and art director, all with their sights set on representing the UAE at the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival. It is the largest gathering of worldwide advertising and marketing professionals, as well as advertising's most prestigious awards.

The prizes were presented by the Managing Partner of the Motivate Group - Mr Ian Fairservice, with the winners being flown to the South of France as guests of the Motivate Group. In addition, the Motivate Group will sponsor one UAE national who is a final year graphics/communications student, to attend the one week Cannes Master Class, conducted by keynote speakers of the festival.

The winning teams were as follows:

Gold - With 2 outstanding entries, Bilal Kerbaj & Sheetal Rajan from Arabian Gulf Advertising (AGA) Dubai were the front runners, scooping the Gold award and will proudly represent the UAE at the Cannes Competition in June.

Silver - Keshav Naidu & Umran Shaikh of Team Young Rubicam Dubai.

Bronze - Shaun Dean Thomas & Vincent Charles Fichard of Fortune Promoseven.

All of the entrants' submissions will be on display at the IAA offices for viewing to the general public until
Saturday 19th May.

The competition which is organised every year by the official Cannes Advertising Festival representative, Motivate Val Morgan Cinema Advertising, was held on Wednesday 2nd May. The day bore witness to Young Creative teams from agencies across the UAE - working against the clock to devise an innovative poster campaign based on 'Food for Education' on behalf of the United Nations World Food Programme.

The creative brief given by the United Nations World Food Programme was widely praised for being both extensive and clear, which was a significant factor in the resulting high calibre of work that was produced.

Competitors were encouraged in their brief to:

•Increase public awareness on child hunger & the urgent need for support.

•Increase public awareness on Food for Education and its important role in giving poor children a brighter future.

•Raise The World Food Programme's profile as the leading organisation in the fight against child hunger.

The excited winners will now plan their trip to Cannes in France where from the 17-23rd June they will represent the UAE at the 54th Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival. They will join at least 30 teams from around the globe and vie to win the prestigious Cannes Lions Young Creative Award.

Sponsors who made this event possible were: The International Advertising Association premises for the venue and catering; Xerox for all colour printers and paper; Arab Business Machines Ltd (Apple IMC ME) for Apple Mac computers and monitors; Adobe for design software and Gallo Images/Getty Images for the image library.