Facebook celebrates Young African Creatives at The Loerie Student Awards

Facebook celebrated the creativity and excellence of young African creatives at The Loerie Awards for 2016, the premier annual advertising awards in the advertising industry in Africa and the Middle East. In addition to sponsoring The Loerie Student Awards for 2016, Facebook hosted a range of events aimed at young creatives in support of Loeries Creative Week (15-21 August, Durban).

Facebook announced that it will work with the Loeries and advertising schools across the country to develop and promote young creative talent on an ongoing basis. This will culminate in the Facebook Challenge, which will become an official Loerie Award in the Student Category from 2017.

One of the highlights of the week was the partnership between Facebook and the Nelson Mandela Foundation to run the first student Hack for Good at this year's Loerie Awards.

Twenty of the country's top students competed in a 48-hour hack to create a world-class video campaign, speaking to the theme of “Tolerance” and “Living the Mandela Legacy”.  Facebook will sponsor the production and flighting of the campaign on 5 December, the second anniversary of Madiba's passing.
“If we want to be more creative, we have to connect – with each other, the industry and the world,” says Nunu Ntshingila, Head of Facebook, Africa. “For Facebook, the Loeries is a perfect opportunity to celebrate how Africa’s dynamic creatives are using mobile to make human connections and tell compelling stories. Mobile is the creative canvas of our time and young African professionals will define how it is used in the years to come.”

Facebook’s participation in Loeries Creative Week and beyond included: Facebook Made on Mobile workshop – a full-day workshop in partnership with KCap (Kwamashu Community Advancement Projects) aimed at equipping disadvantaged youth with the skills to create marketing campaigns for small businesses using only their phones. Student Portfolio Day – Facebook supported the Adams and Adams Student Portfolio Day, giving students the tools to build online creative portfolios, and promoting these to the industry using Facebook Canvas Ads. Supporting The Loeries Creative Futures Scholarship, which unearths and nurtures creative talent from previously disadvantaged communities.

Adds Ntshingila: “We want to go beyond sponsorship to truly helping develop young, diverse talent, through programs and activities such as Made on Mobile and Hack for Good. We believe that any teen with a phone can become a marketing expert or an entrepreneur. Facebook sees a future of mobi-entrepreneurs in Africa, and we will help them unlock their creativity with the power of technology.”