Dubai Media City and Dubai Press Club sign an agreement to promote Ibda'a Media Student Awards regionally and internationally

Abdulhamid Juma, CEO of Dubai Media City and Co-ordinator General for the Ibda'a Awards said, "Ibda'a has developed into a significant Award that attracts participation of media students from a vast region extending from the Middle East to India and Central Asia to South Africa. We are looking forward to this new partnership with the Dubai Press Club to further catalyze the Ibda'a Awards as a high caliber initiative aimed at encouraging excellence in media."

He added, "This partnership with Dubai Press Club shows our commitment to extensively promote the Awards and give the media students all over the world a chance to participate under its different media categories. This partnership also takes into account the experience of the Dubai Press Club in successfully organizing Arab Journalism Awards over the years."

Mona Al Marri, Executive Manager, Dubai Press Club said, "We are pleased to collaborate with the Dubai Media City and look forward to promoting the Ibda'a Awards and supporting its efforts of recognizing exceptional media talent regionally as well as internationally."

She added, "Dubai Press Club and the Dubai Media City are both committed to promoting and positioning Dubai as an international media hub. We are fully confident that the main benefit of this new partnership will be to the media students as Ibda'a's expansion into a worldwide competition realizes its eventual goal of having global reach and appeal."

The list of the 10 Award categories for 2004 includes Journalism, Radio, Digital Photography, Analogue Photography, Film/TV Feature, TV Documentary, Graphic Design, TV Advertising, Print Advertising and Animation.

The official sponsors for Ibda'a 2004 include ARN, BBC World, Motivate Publishing, Seven Star, Showtime, and Virgin. Dubai Media City will also continue its strong association with the International Advertising Association (IAA) in organizing the Awards.

The Ibda'a Media Student Awards was launched by Dubai Media City in June 2001 under the patronage of His Highness General Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and UAE Defence Minister. Since then, each year, the Awards have attracted a multitude of entries from around the region and unearthed some exceptional student media talent.