Dubai - MENA Herald: The Dubai Culture & Arts Authority (Dubai Culture), the Emirate's dedicated entity for heritage, arts and culture, has won the third place under the ‘Best users of social media in the Arab world’ category at the 15th edition of the Sheikh Salem Al-Ali Al-Sabah Informatics Awards.
At a ceremony held at Bayan Palace in Kuwait, the award was received by a delegation of Dubai Culture led by Dr. Salah Al Qassim, Advisor at Dubai Culture & Arts Authority; Mohamed Al Hammadi, IT Department Acting Director and Elham Sharaf, Senior Executive Communications at Dubai Culture.
‘His Highness Sheikh Salem Al-Ali Al-Sabah Informatics Award’ is an annual event introduced in 2001 with the aim of making the Arab world an integrated, advanced informatics community. Designed to build individual capabilities in the advancement in IT, it also promotes the role of social institutions to keep up with the new state-of-the-art trends in the industry.
The Awards also aim to build human capabilities in IT development, promoting the role of social institutions to keep pace with technological advancement, boosting IT skills as well as highlighting Arabic digital content and preparing Arab youth to establish an advanced IT culture.
Dr. Salah Al Qassim said: “We are delighted to have achieved this prestigious honour. This award underlines the efforts made by Dubai Culture to leverage information technology to achieve organisational excellence, and enhance customer satisfaction in all categories. This achievement highlights our efforts in achieving excellence in the IT sector and increasing people’s satisfaction in line with the directives of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, to achieve the Dubai Plan 2021 to establish Dubai as the smartest city in the world.”
The award’s organising committee provided a set list of criteria for participants to follow. The official social media pages were required to be in Arabic and had to present a contemporary feel that innovatively represented each participant.
The winner was selected through two judging stages. The first round was the assessment phase in which a panel of judges short-listed the applicants. During the second phase, ten experts from nine countries representing governmental sectors, international organisations, and civil societies further evaluated each social media page.
Dubai Culture is committed to cultivating the cultural landscape of Dubai by building on its rich Arabian heritage, nurturing and promoting talent, and encouraging intercultural dialogue through digital media between the city’s communities’ as well as contributing to the social initiatives that benefit UAE nationals and residents alike.