Dubai Media City concludes Global Campaign for Ibda'a Awards 2004

The campaign covered more than 250 universities around the world, namely in the UK, Canada, USA, Australia, India, Iran, Egypt, and Lebanon. Ibda'a team also visited a number of universities in the UAE to reintroduce the awards, hence attracting record number of entries this year.

As part of the promotional campaign, the team from Ibda'a Awards also participated in the Knowledge Village Department of Student Services events, such as the 'Open Day' where it met over 500 students from all over the world studying at the Knowledge Village universities.

Abdul Hamid Juma, Chief Executive Officer of Dubai Media City and the Coordinator General for the Ibda'a Awards said, "This is the fourth consecutive year for the Ibda'a Awards which has witnessed over the years tremendous growth in terms of the quality of entries and the number of participants. The road shows and outreach initiatives this year have resulted in attracting a large number of participants not just from the target countries but also first time enquiries from South Africa, South Korea, Russia, Nepal, and West African countries."

He added, "This reflects the interest of the media students in the Ibda'a Awards and its global reach and appeal. We hope that this year's Ibda'a Awards will unveil exceptional student media talent which is capable of shaping a promising future for the media in the Arab world."

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.