In line with its commitment to support technological innovations and creative talent within the telecom industry, du was the official sponsor for the award category ‘m-media and news’ at the recently-held World Summit Awards Mobile Winners’ Conference Gala and Expo. Hala Badri, EVP, Brand and Communications, du, officially congratulated the five winners of the prestigious award, and delivered a keynote speech about the importance of the burgeoning m-media world.

“Media is no longer about the traditional forms that we have come to know such as print and broadcast. In the past few years, electronic media has been making its mark and is evolving at an astonishing rate. As a company that always strives to be at the forefront of technological advancements, we are pleased to support the ‘m-media & news’ award category, which we believe will serve to recognise the pioneering work done in this field and also encourage others to get involved in shaping the future of this booming new industry,” commented Hala Badri, EVP Brand and Communications, du.

The five winners of the ‘m-media and news’ award included the ABC iPhone/iPad application from Australia, Apontador Traffic from Brazil, m.guardian.co.uk & Guardian iPhone app from UK, Newelo Need4Feed from Finland and You are the Reporter from Russia. The criteria for the category included reporting the news using the mobile phone, crowd sourcing, citizen journalism, covering natural disasters, public campaigning, multimedia news, mobile media aggregation and search services, new forms of mobile video and m-TV, movies and current affairs.

The WSA-mobile Winners’ Gala Conference & Expo – the first world conference on m-content - took place recently in Abu Dhabi. The event was held under the auspices of the Government of Abu Dhabi in cooperation with the United Nations and its Global Alliance for ICT and Development, and Government and Business Partners from around the World.