AROUND 80 per cent of the nominations for a first-of-its-kind social media awards ceremony to be held in Bahrain are from within the kingdom, and are mostly citizens.
The organisers of ‘Social Media Awards’ stated that the overwhelming response demonstrated the country’s vibrantly positive social media user community.
Amisha Patel, a celebrity Indian film artist with 9.8 million social media followers, and Pakistani actor, singer, producer, and poet Imran Abbas, who has 7.8m followers, will be the main attractions at the event on Friday at 7pm at the Crowne Plaza Bahrain.
The event, which will bring together Bahrain’s most powerful social media influencers, is a major initiative of Saaya Events, an entrepreneurial venture of Indian expatriate Heena Mansoor, and supported by the GDN as media partner.
“It was my dream to do something unique for Bahrain, the country that is home to me for the past 25 years and the first-ever Social Media Awards in the GCC is fulfilling that dream,” said Ms Mansoor. “The aim of the award is to recognise social media influencers and content creators who have paved the way forward, have demonstrated extraordinary talent, provided support and encouragement to peers and the next generation, especially during and post-pandemic.
“During this bleak time when almost all of us fervently took to mobile phones and social media, I noticed many people who spread positivity through their pages – they made us smile, encouraged us and made us think, and helped us wade through the difficult phase.
“I wanted to honour these people, to put a smile on their faces – I think they were also heroes – hence the award.”
In total 380 social media users from the world of media, fashion, sport, design, business, entrepreneurship, engineering, education and social welfare have been shortlisted for 27 awards. The winners will be decided by a six-member jury and the awardees will be honoured at the event which is expected to gather an online audience of more than 200 million people from across the world.
Among the nominees are Bahraini entrepreneur and sportswoman Dana Zubari, Bahraini photographer and visual story frames ‘in between’ fame Ishaq Madan, popular TikTok and Instagram users Zoya Diksha, Shadhaab Shaikh, Roman Khan, Fiza and Muneeb.
“We have shortlisted 380 nominations which have been forwarded to the jury members who will decide the winners,” said Ms Mansoor. “Entries were open to people in the GCC and India and I’m happy to note that 80 per cent of the nominations were from Bahrain, mostly Bahrainis.
“That was a great response and it has encouraged me to think of making the awards an annual event.”
The award categories include best Instagrammer, best TikToker, best video, best audio, best videography, best photography and best content, amongst others, as well as celebrating social media account holders with the highest numbers of followers, views and likes.
raji@gdnmedia.bh
&uuid=(email))