Pan Arab Web awards to be announced on March 24th receives an overwhelming response

The revision in the date was made to assist the panel of judges in making a thorough evaluation of the large number of entries received.

This unique contest attracted wide interest, as web designers and domain owners from all over the region participated. The winners will be announced at a gala event in Dubai Internet City (DIC).

Pan Arab Web Awards, which is being jointly organised by Dubai Internet City, Assembly of Professionals and Technicians in Lebanon (APTL), Eyes-Horizons, Jordanian Intellectual Property Association (JIPA) and Business Software Alliance (BSA) is aimed at raising the standards of websites and other online applications being developed in the Arab world, with a special focus on young Arabic designers, in order that all sectors of the economy, seamlessly integrate into a digital society.

Jawad Al Redha, Co-Chairman, BSA Middle East said, "We have received an overwhelming response for the Pan Arab Web Awards, which reflects the enormous talents of Arab website developers. We postponed the date for the awards ceremony, as we wanted to give an equal and fair chance to all participants of the competition, by providing sufficient time for the judges to evaluate the websites in detail."

"By sponsoring the competition, BSA is reinforcing its efforts to provide a platform for developing creativity and innovation in the Middle East region. The award has been envisioned to promote the creative and technical excellence of the web designers, software coders, engineers and entrepreneurs who have chosen the power of the web to expand their horizons and contribute to the development of society, whilst protecting intellectual property rights. The response received for this competition boosts us to patronise similar events in future," added Al Redha.

The competition had 16 categories where entrants could register their website for contest. The categories reflected a wide variety of sectors and disciplines including Art and Design, Banks and Financial Institutes, Corporate and E-Commerce, Cultural and Education, Directories and Information Services, Fashion, Government, Non-Government Organizations (NGOs), International Organizations, Health and Insurance, Information Technology (IT), Industry, Media, Personal, Travel and Tourism, Entertainment, and Transportation. The entries will be adjudged by an independent jury comprising of industry leaders, technologists and other leading personalities.

The award consists of three trophies- Golden, Silver and Bronze - which will be presented to the winner, the first runner up and the second runner up respectively in each category. In addition the winner of the Diamond Trophy - for the Best Website- will be selected from the recipients of the Golden Trophy. All the winners will be given a Certificate of Appreciation and the Web Awards logo will be placed on the winning entries. The entry to the competition is open to all the web design companies, freelancers and web developers and web owners from the region.

"The tremendous response to the awards is certainly encouraging and clearly demonstrates the maturing of web and online development sectors in the Arab countries. It also goes on to indicate that the region does not lack the talent for web designing and developing an online presence, which is the bare minimum requirement for any business, organisation or individuals who aim to harness the power of the Internet for pursuing new opportunities," said Pierre Moukarzel, President, APTL.

Business Software Alliance (BSA) is the foremost organisation dedicated to promoting a safe and legal digital world. The Assembly of Professionals and Technicians in Lebanon (APTL) was established in 2000 and was founded officially on the 25th of January 2001 as a non-governmental and non-profit organization, volunteer based association in Beirut to respond to the needs of professionals and technicians in Lebanon. Dubai Internet City (DIC), is the Middle East regions biggest IT infrastructure, built inside a free trade zone, supporting a dynamic international community of ICT companies and over 5,500 knowledge workers.