DUBAI: TikTok announced the winners of its first Creator Hub Awards for the United Arab Emirates and Egypt at a ceremony in Dubai on Wednesday.

The program, which launched in September, aims to identify talented creators and connect them with the right mentors and skills development experts, to support and develop their skills.

The annual competition asked creators to produce a creative content idea around a specific theme. This year’s theme was climate change, inspired by the 2022 UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties – COP27 – held in Egypt in November.

It also aligns with TikTok’s launch of the #ClimateAction program in support of COP27 in the MENA region. The campaign encourages TikTok users to join the climate conversation and take action that positively impacts the planet.

“We decided to launch this in Egypt and the United Arab Emirates because COP27 will take place in these two regions this year and next year,” said Tarek Abdalla, Regional General Manager, TikTok Middle East, Africa, Turkey, Pakistan and South Asia. Arab News.

Five winners were chosen for their creative ability to spread awareness of this year’s theme through an informative TikTok video: Anfal Saheb, Aya Shiha, Deema Naser, Kareem Abdel Samad and Rabih Takkoush.

Naser, who loves creating content, said, “Being able to use a platform that I use daily to create positive social change was already an honor for me, but creating a video that won the MENA Creator Hub Award was also unbelievable. ”

For Takkoush, winning the award gave him “a boost of confidence to create and share more content.”

He added, “Wait until you see us creators collaborating together.”

Likewise, Abdel Samad appreciated the collaborative experience and the meeting with other creators. “It was nice to hear all of their stories and passions in life, and great to see that we all share one thing in common, which is a love for creating content and bringing change through what we do” , did he declare.

Each year, the TikTok MENA Creator Hub program will craft a chosen theme for creators to come up with a creative content idea around a specific topic. It aims to provide creators with the knowledge to inspire and guide them throughout their professional career.

“TikTok is a very simple tool to create and distribute content and messages; we are happy to be able to start conversations on important societal topics and to be able to include anyone in the conversation,” said Abdalla.