More than 750 professionals from the UAE’s events industry descended on the JW Marriott Marquis Hotel Dubai last night (21 May) for the 2014 edition of the Middle East Event Awards, a part of the 2014 Middle East EVENT Show.
The 20 awards cover everything from Best Arts & Cultural Event and Best Music Event to Employer of the Year and Outstanding Brand Activation. The nominations were assessed by a panel of 24 judges, who this year received over 300 entries for the awards.
Kicking off the night’s proceedings was the Best Arts & Cultural Event category, won by WRG for their work on the Qasr Al Hosn Festival. Their culture-focused event sought to ‘increase awareness among young Emiratis of their culture and heritage, and the importance of Qasr al Hosn as a historic monument in the UAE.’
Best Venue was won by Du Arena, which since the New Year has held, and organised, a number of successful shows such as Disney Live! Mickey’s Music Festival, Harley Owners Group MENA Rally and the MMA Hard Knox Fight Knight, bringing tens of thousands of visitors to the capital.
Staying in Abu Dhabi, one of the most coveted awards of the night, Best Music Event, was snatched by the team at Flash Entertainment for putting on the region’s largest ever gig, with over 30,000 tickets sold, The Rolling Stones On Fire Tour. The event was also a showcase of the technical level to which Abu Dhabi can produce world-class events, to the approval of one of the most established bands in the world.
Other winners of note included Mamemo Productions’ Art Marine Relaunch, which scooped Best Event on a Budget, and Dubai Food Carnival at DWTC for Best Exhibition.
The event was hosted by British comedian Phil Jupitus. Richard Brook, exhibition director of the Middle East EVENT Show, commented: “This year, 300 nominations were received for the awards making it the single most successful nomination process to date. People are confident in the events that they are organising, and the quality of the entries just goes to show where the industry is heading.”
