HispanicBusiness

With a jam-packed auditorium filled with students from Zayed University, du--s Social Media Awards started on Wednesday, albeit several hours behind schedule.

The event, which marked the conclusion of du's campaign for the 41st UAE National Day, was inaugurated by Shaikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Foreign Minister, who delivered a congratulatory speech to the winners of du's National Day competitions.

"This initiative proves the sustainable power of social media," he added, urging users to make good, responsible use of social media.

Noura Al Kaabi, CEO of twofour54 and member of the Federal National Council (FNC), further stressed the importance of social media. "We should use social media to drive positive change in our society, as it has become an integral part of our everyday life. Even the smallest tweet can have an impact, and this is something that should be considered by all social media users," she said.

The winners of the four awards were announced during the event, starting with Hasan Al Mazrouei, winner of the 'Shaikh Abdullah bin Zayed Social Responsibility Award', for his campaign urging UAE residents to raise a flag over every home.

The 'Best Digital Video Content Award' went to Murshed Mohammed for his entry, "Ya Mereis", with the 'Best Blog/Blogger' awarded to Abdullah Al Abdooli for snyar.net, a web page that also won him the 'People's Choice Award'.

The National Song -- a community written song for the National Day celebrations -- concluded the day of awards and speeches. The song, composed specially for the event, was part of du's competition encouraging Arab language speakers living in the UAE to contribute a verse line through the telecom's Facebook and Twitter page.

"Our National Day campaign, including today's event, is dedicated to the UAE as a demonstration of our love for our country and a tribute to the many achievements that our leadership has led us to," said Ahmad bin Byat, Chairman of du.

"The campaign was entirely created by a dedicated team of Emirati colleagues, who, with the help of some of our country's finest artists and our society's most patriotic members, have created a phenomenal manifestation of our devotion to the United Arab Emirates," he added.