Award aims to bring out the best in media students

Dubai: Zayed University (ZU) on Monday announced the launch of the second Habib Al Reda Award for Media Innovation, which aims to encourage creative competitiveness among students and enhance the standard of media graduates in the UAE.

Dr Sulaiman Al Jasem, ZU vice president; Dr Kenneth Starck, dean of the College Of Communication and Media Sciences, and Khalid Habib Al Reda, a member of the family sponsoring the award and also the chairman of the award committee, jointly announced the competition.

The competition is an initiative of the Al Reda family to honour the memory of the late Habib Mohammad Habib Al Reda for his contributions for the advancement of the media in the UAE.

The late Shaikh Rashid Bin Saeed Al Maktoum appointed Al Reda as director of Dubai TV in 1969. Al Reda also served as assistant undersecretary of the Ministry of Media and Culture in the Northern Emirates until his death in 2003.

"He [Habib Al Reda] always took an interest in students and education. He always said the UAE should be number one and the best," said Khalid Habib Al Reda.

Achievements

"Social responsibility was very important to him... When he started with Dubai TV in the 60s there were no UAE nationals in the cast but now there are plenty," he said.

Dr Al Jasem recalled Al Reda's efforts for the development of the media.

"His remarkable achievements were evident in the emiratisation of the media sector, the organisation of media censorship operations, legislations pertaining to intellectual property rights, media and publications management as well as the establishment of media offices and directorates in the Northern Emirates," he said.

Organised jointly by ZU, UAE University and the Higher Colleges of Technology (HCT), the competition is open to communication and media majors studying at UAE universities.

The competition categories include: print media, photography, video production, audio production, animation, multimedia, graphic design, public relations and senior project.

The closing date for competition entries is May 4 and the winners will be announced within a month's time at a special ceremony.

"The fact that students are preparing materials that will be judged by professionals will give them a better indication of the quality of work they are doing," commented Starck.

Although the competition organisers have not announced the prize money, they said it would be similar to the Dh5,000; Dh4,000 and Dh3,000 handed out to the first-, second- and third-best entries respectively last year.

- To request more information about entering the competition, email andrea.juhasz@zu.ac.ae