Three teams have been shortlisted to win the accolade this year and one of them will be heading to the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity to take part in the international competition. Each team is made up of two PR professionals aged 30 or under.

The shortlisted agency teams are:

Gambit Communications: Sarah Alsalem & Judy Bakieh

Hill+Knowlton Strategies: Farah Elshafey & Muneira Aladwani

Weber Shandwick MENAT: Zahra Zakriya & Karishma Hingorani

The three agencies have been narrowed down from 13 MENA competitors, after responding to a brief set by Gulf for Good, which performed as the ‘client’. Participating agencies had 24 hours to create a campaign.

The shortlisted teams will be asked to deliver a five-minute presentation explaining their PR campaign on the 10^th April 2023 in Dubai. Following this, there will be a five-minute Q&A session.

The judging panel for this year’s competition is:

Alexandra Dewar

Partner, The Romans

Brett Jones

PR & Comms Manager, Volkswagen Middle East

Elizabeth Sen

Executive Director, APCO Worldwide

Roshni Vatnani

PR & Comms Manager, Gulf For Good

Following this, the winning MENA team will be announced on 12^th April 2023 and will receive complimentary delegate passes to the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity.

The team will then compete against representatives from more than 30 countries, delivering a presentation for a non-profit organization in 24 hours that will be judged by a selected jury.

The International Communications Consultancy Organisation (ICCO) is the sponsor of the Young PR Lions competition to find the most talented young PR team in the world; and PRCA MENA is responsible for running the element of the competition from the region to find the country’s brightest and best young PR talent.