Motivate Media Group and Motivate Val Morgan, the official UAE representatives of the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, have launched the UAE Young Lions Competition 2025.
This year’s competition introduces a new Media category, sponsored by UM UAE, demonstrating Motivate Media Group’s and Motivate Val Morgan’s commitment to nurturing diverse creative talent and further elevating UAE’s position on the global creative stage.
This expansion comes at a time when the country has achieved its highest-ever ranking – placing among the top 8 countries globally in the Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity rankings.
Commenting on UM’s sponsorship of the first-ever UAE Young Lions Media Competition, Susana Tsui Fitzpatrick, CEO of UM UAE, said, “At UM, we champion ‘Full Colour Media’ to inspire a vibrant future beyond the grayscale of sameness in our industry, and we’re committed to nurturing young talent to realise this vision. That’s why we’re proud to sponsor the inaugural UAE Young Lions Competition in the Media category.
“We believe this competition will empower the next generation of media talent across the UAE to bring bold, strategic creativity to the global stage—thinking beyond algorithms, ready to transform challenges into masterpieces of innovation and passion, and steering brands away from the bland,” Fitzpatrick added.
Commenting on the competition and the newly launched category, Ian Fairservice, Managing Partner, Motivate Media Group, and CEO, Motivate Val Morgan, said, “The UAE’s remarkable ascent in global creativity rankings demonstrates the extraordinary potential of our young talent. This was further validated when our Young Lions Digital team ranked among the top 7 globally last year.”
Fairservice added, “Building on this momentum, and with the partnership of UM, we’re expanding our commitment to nurturing creative excellence through the introduction of the Media category. I am sure this addition will create new opportunities for rising stars to showcase their strategic thinking and innovative capabilities on the world stage, ultimately strengthening UAE’s position as a creative powerhouse.”
UAE Young Lions – Details for the Digital category and the newly launched Media category
The Digital category competition challenges teams consisting of an art director and copywriter to create an award-winning digital campaign.
The newly introduced Media category, sponsored by UM UAE, invites teams of two media planners, or a media planner and strategist, to demonstrate their strategic media planning capabilities and innovative solutions. Participants of both categories will be given 24 hours to submit their entries.
The competition follows a hybrid format designed to thoroughly evaluate participants’ capabilities. Teams will first receive their briefs through an online session, with the not-for-profit partner and the organisers after which they will have 24 hours to develop their solutions.
Following the submission, entries will undergo preliminary remote judging to determine the finalists. These selected teams will then have the opportunity to present their ideas in person to a distinguished panel of industry experts in a live judging session on 26 February 2025 at the Motivate Media Group head office.
Eligible participants must be 30 years old or under, born on or after 21 June 1994, and must be UAE citizens or residents. For the Digital category, the competition welcomes professionals from registered creative communications agencies, advertising agencies, digital agencies, and client-side creative teams.
Freelance professionals are also encouraged to form teams and participate in this category. The Media category is specifically open to professionals from registered media agencies or in-house media departments.
The competition will accept registrations until 17 February 2025. The competition will take place on 22 February 2025, with winners to be announced on 26 February 2025. The winning teams from both categories will come together to form ‘Team UAE’ at the 2025 Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, scheduled for June 16-20, 2025, in Cannes, France.
The victorious teams will receive an all-expenses-paid trip to Cannes, including full-week delegate passes that grant access to the festival, awards ceremonies, and networking events.
Most importantly, they will have the honour of representing the UAE in the International Young Lions Competition, competing against young creative talents from around the world.
The competitions are supported by Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity and powered by Getty Images.
For detailed information about the competition and to register, interested participants can visit: https://motivatevalmorgan.com/young-lions-2025/.
