Motivate Media Group and Motivate Val Morgan, the official UAE representatives of the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, have opened registrations for the UAE Young Lions Competition 2026.
The competition invites young talent to compete in two categories: Digital and Media, offering participants the opportunity to represent the UAE at the world’s most prestigious creative festival.
UAE Young Lions 2026: Format and categories
The Digital category challenges teams consisting of an art director and copywriter to create an award-winning digital campaign.
The Media category invites teams of two media planners, or a media planner and strategist, to demonstrate their strategic media planning capabilities and innovative solutions.
The competition follows a hybrid format designed to thoroughly evaluate participants’ capabilities. Teams will first receive their briefs through an online session on 7 February 2026, after which they will have 24 hours to develop their solutions.
Following submission on 8 February 2026, entries will undergo preliminary remote judging to determine the finalists. Selected teams will then present their ideas in person to a distinguished panel of industry experts during a live judging session on 11 February 2026 at the Motivate Media Group head office.
Eligibility and registration
Eligible participants must be 30 years old or under, born on or after 22 June 1995, and must be citizens or residents of the UAE. In an expansion for 2026, the competition welcomes citizens and residents of Oman, Qatar, and Bahrain.
The Digital category 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.
The Media category is open to professionals from registered media agencies or in-house media departments.
The competition will accept registrations until 4 February 2026. Winners will be announced on 11 February 2026.
The UAE Young Lions 2026 prize
The winning teams from both categories will represent the UAE at the 2026 Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, scheduled for 22–26 June 2026 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.
They will have the honour of representing the UAE in the International Young Lions Competition, competing against young creative talent from around the world.
The competition is supported by Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity and powered by Getty Images.
For detailed information about the competition and to register, interested participants can visit the competition website.
