Festival Draws to a Close; Final Shortlists Released

Wednesday 13 March, 2013

The Dubai Lynx International Festival of Creativity, the leading awards and festival for creative excellence in advertising and communications in the Middle East and North Africa, has drawn to a close ahead of tonight’s hotly anticipated Awards Ceremony.

Final shortlists have been released showing that the juries have shortlisted 7 in Integrated and 16 in new category Branded Content & Entertainment. The winners of all 15 entry categories are set to be revealed to a packed auditorium at tonight’s ceremony and dinner.

Delegates to the Festival have enjoyed a busy few days of topical content. Yesterday jury presidents Tom Beckman, Erik Vervroegen, Sylvia Vitale Rotta and Ian Haworth individually took to the stage to hold their President’s Addresses. Later on in the day seminars came from Sonal Dabral, Chairman, Chief Creative Officer, DDB Mudra Group; Mark D’Arcy, Director of Global Creative Solutions, Facebook; Ramzi Moutran, Creative Director, MEMAC Ogilvy and Bechara Mouzannar, Regional Executive Creative Director, Leo Burnett MENA for the Berlin School of Creative Leadership seminar; Gian Carlo Lanfranco, Senior Creative, Fred & Farid Paris; and Daniel Andrade, Creative Lead, Creative Services EMEA, Google.

On Tuesday morning the 18 Young Lynx teams, who have been hard at work creating their integrated campaigns, presented their ideas to the dedicated Young Lynx jury. The jury have provided their feedback to the teams and their chosen winners will be revealed for the first time at tonight’s Awards Ceremony.

With a focus on networking, last night saw the exclusive Creative Club Party held at the DEK on 8 at the Media One Hotel which allowed delegates to unwind, share ideas and debrief after a busy two-and-a-half days at the Festival.

Preparations are now well underway ahead of tonight’s Awards Ceremony, which will see creatives from across the MENA region gather to see who will take home the coveted Lynx trophies and enjoy a night of celebration. All shortlists are now online and the winners can be viewed from Thursday 14 March.