Internships for Ibdaa award winners

Internships with some of the leading international and regional media names are among the prizes allotted to winners of the Ibdaa Media Student Award 2002 – Dubai Media City's annual regional awards for outstanding students.

The prize sponsors include CNN, Disney Channel M.E., FilmWorks, Gulf News, Jumbo Electronics, Saatchi and Saatchi, Team/Young & Rubicam and Virgin Megastore.

The second Ibdaa Awards have invited entries from media students across the Middle East, the Subcontinent and South Africa.

The awards have eight categories this year: animation, journalism, radio, television, film production, photography, graphic design and advertising.

The awards in the eight categories include a three-month internship at the London headquarters of CNN for best television documentary, a two-week internship at the Dubai office of Disney Channel for film, two-week internship at the Dubai office of Filmworks for animation, and a month-long internship at Gulf News for journalism.

The best photographer will receive a Sony Mavica camera from Jumbo Electronics.

In the advertising category, the winner will receive a two-week internship at the offices of Saatchi and Saatchi in the winner's home country.

The graphic design winner will bag a two-week internship at the Dubai office of Team/Young & Rubicam. In the radio category, the top honour is a two-week internship at the Paris office of Virgin Megastore.

"There is a vast pool of untapped young media talent in the region," said Abdulhamid Juma, chief executive of Dubai Media City and coordinator general of the Awards.

"Ibdaa is part of our efforts to unearth the best and brightest media talent from our region's educational institutions and expose them to the international and regional media industry.

"By inviting international media players to provide internships for winners of the Ibdaa Awards, we are also trying to build bridges between young talent and the industry."

The deadline for entries is end-September. A panel of regional and international media experts will select a shortlist of 24 entries, three in each category.

The eventual eight winners will be felicitated at a ceremony to be held on November 4.

The first Ibdaa Awards attracted a total of 824 entries from 18 countries around the world. There were 250 entries from the Subcontinent, 171 from South Africa, 50 from the Levant, 20 from Egypt, 15 from GCC countries, and 18 from Australia and New Zealand.

This year, Dubai Media City is conducting a wider promotional campaign to reach media students in more key media markets.

It is currently conducting Ibdaa roadshows in media schools and universities in Iran, Turkey, Sri Lanka and Pakistan, in addition to the UAE, South Africa, Egypt, India, GCC countries and the Levant.

The second awards have attracted key sponsors such as Gulf News, MBC, Motivate Publishing and Saudi Research and Publishing Co. (SRPC).

The UAE chapter of the International Advertising Asso-ciation (IAA) will support the awards by assisting with the screening and shortlisting of entries and coordination of the judging process.