PRCA MENA Announces Shortlist for Young PR Lions MENA Competition 2024

Dubai, UAE – 26 March 2024: PRCA MENA is one step closer to finding the best young PR professionals in the region as the Young PR Lions MENA finalists are announced.

Five teams have been shortlisted to win the accolade this year and one of them will be heading to the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity to take part in the international competition in June, 2024. Each team is made up of two PR professionals aged 30 or under.

The shortlisted agency teams are:

• Atteline – Alina Zuberi and Sanya Ijaz
• BPG Group – Iman Dawood and Ruaa Youssef
• Gambit Communications – Alexandra Richards and Sara Al Dehni
• Hill and Knowlton – Farah Elshafey and Robyn Rebello
• Siemens Energy – Amneh Alkhatib and Mina Nashwan

The five competing teams have been narrowed down from the sixteen teams that entered the MENA Regional competition, after responding to a brief set by Shamsaha, a non-profit organization based in Bahrain, focusing on women’s empowerment and protection throughout the Middle East, which performed as the ‘client’. Participating agencies had 24 hours to create a campaign.

The shortlisted teams will be asked to deliver a five-minute presentation explaining their PR campaign on the 26th of March 2024 online. Following this, there will be a five-minute Q&A session.

PRCA Head of EMEA, Monika Fourneaux said: “As we announce the shortlist for this year’s PRCA MENA Young Lions competition, we’re thrilled to witness the remarkable talent emerging across the Middle East and North Africa. The caliber of entries reflects the creativity, dedication, and ambition of our region’s young professionals. Congratulations to all the finalists!”

The judging panel for this years’ competition is:

• Amel Osman, Head of Corporate Communications at Instinctif Partners MENA
• Claire Micheletti, Founder & Joint Managing Director at Cosmopole Consultancy
• Imad Lahad, Managing Director at APCO Worldwide
• Loretta Ahmed, CEO at Houbara Communications
• Laureline Schwarz, Head of Global Corporate Communication at Al-Futtaim Automotive
• Sylvia Marcus, Partnership and Business Development Manager at Shamsaha Organization

Following this, the winning MENA team will be announced on 29th March.

The winning team will then compete at the Cannes Lions 2024 Young Lions PR competition against representatives from more than 30 countries, delivering a presentation for a non-profit organisation in 24 hours that will be judged by a selected jury.

PRCA MENA is responsible for running the element of the competition from the region to find the country’s brightest and best young PR talent.