press releases

twofour54, Abu Dhabi’s media and entertainment hub, and the National Media Council (‘NMC’) have announced the winners of the ‘Creatives4Good’ competition, which was inspired by the “Year of Giving” initiative launched by His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the UAE, at the end of 2016.

Giving Hands, a triad consisting of Salha AlSeiari, Hamda AlRemeithi, Warda AlHammadi, won yesterday following a judging panel led by H.E. Mansour AlMansouri, Director General of National Media Council and H.E. Maryam Eid AlMheiri, Chief Executive Officer of Media Zone Authority – Abu Dhabi and twofour54.

Launched at the end of October, the competition aimed to encourage the UAE’s creative community to produce video content that reflect the continuous spirit of giving and volunteering and the theme #GivingNeverStops.

H.E AlMansouri said: “Creatives4Good is a national media initiative launched between the National Media Council and twofour54, in line with the directives of our country’s wise leadership. Our leadership emphasizes the importance of supporting young talent, offers them opportunities to develop their skills and creative potential, and provides them with a suitable ecosystem that encourages innovation. The aim of Creatives4Good is to support “The Year of Giving” by creating meaningful visual content, highlighting the importance of social responsibility, volunteering, and service of the nation, and exporting the UAE’s message of tolerance and hope to the world.”

H.E AlMheiri commented: “One of our objectives at twofour54 is to build a collaborative media ecosystem that everyone from film producers to journalists to gamers to web application designers can thrive in. Another objective is to encourage our youth to consider the different opportunities within the media sector, where they can follow their passion and at the same time have meaningful jobs. ‘Creatives4Good’ is a great example of these two objectives. Our partners collaborated and offered workshops to talented young people who have now experienced a taste of what the media sector offers. We also hope that this competition has helped them learn first-hand that giving is continuous and comes in many formats.”

The competition was open to residents in the UAE, aged 18 to 35. Only 15 finalists were chosen to be part of a three-day mentoring workshop at twofour54 in November, where they worked with mentors to produce their videos. Following the workshop, each group was mentored by some of the UAE’s leading directors such as Afra Almarar, Fadel Almeheiri, Majed Alansari, Eeman Alansari, Khalid Almahmoud and Abdulla Hasan.

Each team made two one-minute video submissions upon which the winning group was selected. The winning team received a gift voucher worth AED 60,000 to purchase top camera equipment, from United Broadcast & Media Solutions.

Salha AlSeiari said: “It’s been an incredible opportunity to be able to be part of this competition, to be mentored by Eeman Alansari and to develop my skills even further. But to win, it just makes it a 100 times better. I’m thankful for the opportunity and look forward to more initiatives that would allow me and other fellow colleagues to be part of the media industry.”

The winning videos will also be promoted on social media channels of the General Secretariat of the Executive Council, the National Media Council, and twofour54.

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