Over 40,000 entries, 15 Categories, 10 high brow jury members, images that told compelling stories, a packed house at the eclectic TODA( Theatre of Digital Art, Souk Madinat Jumeirah, Dubai), an immersive experience at the auditorium, handpan music, a virtual avatar keynote, a multicultural invitee presence, loads of prizes and trophies, delight and despair, the 3rd edition of the Kioxia ExceLENS Awards ceremony had it all.
Conceptualized, engineered and executed by Dubai headquartered creative and branding agency ISD Global, the awards is a salutation to the creativity, ingenuity and talent of the region’s professional and amateur photographers and videographers. Not to mention, an initiative to enhance and bolster the creator economy by also encouraging students, hobbyists and homemakers to participate as well.
This year’s edition of the awards had entries coming in from UAE, the rest of the GCC, Africa, Bangladesh, Philippines, Myanmar, Thailand, Indonesia, Singapore, India, Bali etc. Geography is truly history in this case.
“We at Kioxia have always recognized that memories can be everlasting and tell compelling stories. The Kioxia ExceLENS Awards, now in its 3rd edition is delivering consistently on the promise of respecting & unearthing photography | videography talent in the region and beyond. Our ambition is to make this bigger, broader, better in every sense and the next edition will bear testimony to our vision. Continuous innovation, breaking the mould while remaining relevant and recognizing, respecting and rewarding deserving talent is what we set out to do, always “, averred Santosh Varghese, Vice President, Toshiba Gulf FZE.
“Meritocracy took centre stage while we were judging the multiple thousands of entries across so many categories at the Kioxia ExceLENS Awards. And sometimes, we were caught between a rock and a hard place, such was the quality of the entries received. In the end, all of us jury members put our best effort to be as objective and neutral as possible and followed a consistent judging rubric to ensure that we got it right “, echoed Pinu Rahman, one of the esteemed jury panel members and multiple award winning photographer, based out of Bangladesh.
“At ISD Global, we have always been at the forefront of innovation & creativity. Our concepts & IPs are all about identifying, reaching out, influencing & impacting communities be they Content creators, C Suite Thought Leaders, Entrepreneurs, Brand Owners & Guardians, the Design community, Homemakers and Students.
We believe strongly in ‘pattern interrupts’ and building communities across genres. The Kioxia ExceLENS Awards is an ode to that ethos and thinking and we are grateful for the solidarity and support that brand Kioxa has invested in the initiative to make it bigger, larger, better.
Across our roster of concepts and IPs be it BrandKnew, a dedicated media asset offering actionable intelligence to the branding, marketing, advertising & design community, Weeklileaks, a content platform that is curated to bring a smile to people’s faces through both videos and text, Phewturecast, our trends and insights forecasting platform that helps organizations and brands to plan a future back strategy, Hackcellence Fest, a virtual Davos for the student community designing solutions to solve real life problems, the BrandKnew Influencer Marketing Awards and many more, our endeavor at ISD Global always is to bring together communities, offer them food for torque, engage them and inspire them in meaningful ways “concluded Suresh Dinakaran, ISD Global.
The Kioxia ExceLENS Awards after having the first two editions at the glorious Etihad Museum in Jumeirah, Dubai, switched to the very avant garde TODA( Theatre of Digital Art, Souk Madinat Jumeirah, Dubai) for this year’s edition.
“It was great to host the 3rd edition of Kioxia ExceLENS Awards at TODA. Being a multi-sensory, multimedia immersive art ecosystem, we are the first art initiative in the UAE that combines multiple forms of digital art including multimedia exhibitions, contemporary immersive installations, and art in virtual reality. ToDA also aims to educate using art, and eventually become an entertainment hub in the middle of Souk Madinat Jumeirah, Dubai. So, the synergies with the vision of the ExceLENS Awards was immense and we are proud to be an enabler and facilitator for initiatives like these and look forward to partnering with ISD Global and Kioxia in the future as well “, mentioned Daria Prodaevich, Director of TODA.
Multiple mainstream media and content partners who collaborated in this Kioxia ExceLENS Awards initiative included The Daily Hunt | Dubai Media | UBL HD TV | B4U+ | B4U Aflam | Whistling Woods International |Mathrubhumi Group | Filipino Times | Republic TV | Hallatec | AFC Holidays among others.
The Kioxia ExceLENS Awards is going upstream with another initiative branded the Wall of Frame, which will be a series of Exhibits | Gallery displays for the shortlisted participants. The first of the Wall of Frame series will be held in Dubai at the end of October. More details will be on the awards website by the end of April.
Moving forward, the Kioxia ExceLENS Awards is committed to making the initiative better, modern, more inclusive and futuristic. Watch this space for more.
