Press Release

Dubai Media City, a world-renowned media hub and a member of the TECOM Group PJSC, and Dubai Lynx International Festival of Creativity have partnered up to showcase inventive and award-winning campaigns with the Student Creative Hack Competition. Encouraging the development of the young creative talent in the MENA region, the competition serves to help students develop a creative process across design, media, advertising, and public relations.

The creative competition will take place on 26 and 27 October 2022 at the Dubai Knowledge Park Conference Centre, featuring shortlisted students from universities affiliated with Dubai Knowledge Park and Dubai International Academic City. During the hackathon, students will have the exclusive opportunity to showcase their abilities and creative thinking before a jury of industry experts from TikTok, Meta, and more.

Winners will be announced on the 27th of October, this year and awarded on stage at the 2023 Lynx Awards ceremony.

The jury includes Till Hohmann, Regional CCO MENA, Memac Ogilvy, Maian Alken, Associate Creative Director at TBWA/RAAD, Khaled Hatrash, Operations Manager of Dubai Studio City and Diana Wilde, Co-Founder of Aurora50.

Commenting on the exhibition, Majed Al Suwaidi, Senior Vice President, Dubai Media City, Dubai Studio City and Dubai Production City, said: “The creative talent pool in Dubai is large and diverse, ranging from professional experts in the business to students receiving priceless experience in renowned academic environments as Dubai International Academic City and Dubai Knowledge Park. Young creatives are the future of our industry, who will bring fresh ideas, values and an innovative spirit into the mix – Dubai Media City is a testament to what ambitious and curious talent can achieve with the right guidance and resources.”

“Our partnership with Dubai Lynx for this hackathon is an opportunity to test and demonstrate what students are capable of achieving and providing them a platform where they can meet, learn from mentors and prove their abilities, giving them a valuable kickstart to their careers. We look forward to students signing up for this competition and giving us a glimpse into the future of media and creativity.”

Thea Skelton, Festival Director at Dubai Lynx said, "We are thrilled to be partnering with Dubai Media City to support and nurture young talent. The Creative Hack is a brilliant opportunity for students to work on a real-time brief and showcase their creative prowess to industry experts."

Maian Alken, Associate Creative Director, TBWA/RAAD, added: “I expect students to surprise me. I invite them to just have fun coming up with a bunch of crazy ideas. The experience and the people they'll meet are the greatest rewards of such a program. So, I hope that they won't let the stress get to them and rather take it all in and enjoy every second. They'll surely remember this for years to come.”