NEWS LETTERS

Newsletter October 20, 2003

In this newsletter

1. Roadshows held in Sharjah and Dubai [Online feature story with photos]
We have had tremendous support from our sponsors and would like to start by thanking Damas, Samsung, National Bank of Dubai, Synergy Professional Services, Dubai Duty Free, Kanoo Group, and Al Arabiya for their support and sponsorship in making the IT challenge and Roadshows a huge success. A special thanks also to Giodarno for providing a number of gift vouchers.

On October 8th, students and staff from Secondary Schools, Colleges and Universities met at Sharjah Women's College (SWC) of Higher Technology to hear details of the 2004 IT Challenge. Ged Ryan, Head Educational Technology of SWC officially welcomed the many guests. Samsung presented TWO of the very latest, smallest and fastest laser printers on the market, and these were presented to lucky winners. In addition, Giordano provided a number of gift certificates which were drawn and presented by Ged Ryan to the lucky winners.

On October 14th another roadshow presentation was held at Dubai Women's College of Higher Technology. John O'Hara, Head, officially welcomed the many guests and sponsors. Those sponsors present at the roadwshow were

At the conclusion of the roadshow, sponsors were invited to select a number of prizes which were given to selected attendees. The CEO of Damas, Mr. Tawheed Abdulla presented ten stunning pearl bracelets from Damas to lucky winners.

Donated by Samsung was the very latest, smallest and fastest laser printer on the market. Vivek Sharma of Samsung presented the laser printer to its lucky winner.

Three fantastic gift packs, donated by Dubai Duty Free were presented to three winners by Ramesh Cidambi, the Senior manager of Dubai Duty Free.

Melad Ghabriel, Managing Director of Synergy Professional services presented a number of gift vouchers from Giordano.

We would like to express our appreciation for the most generous support of Damas, Samsung, Dubai Duty Free, Synergy Professional Services and Giodarno for arranging the prizes and participating in the roadshows. We would also like to express our thanks to the staff at Sharjah Women's College and Dubai Women's College (in particlar Ged, Aziz, Olga, John, Behjat, Anas, Gillian, the student M/C's and helpers) in organizing the roadshows.

2. Updates
So far we have a total of 39 projects pre-registered in the 2004 challenge. This figure will increase over the coming months as the promotions start in each college and university, and information is sent out to all the schools. This is higher than what we had received in the last challenge at the same time.

The challenge executive and organizing committees met on September 30th. Subcommittees have been formed to address a number of issues and help organize the challenge.

The closing date for the Stockholm Challenge is November 1st.The closing date for the e-biz challenge is November 17th. Information and links about both Stockholm or the e-biz challenge can be found on the IT challenge website.

There has been changes to the event calendar. You can view these changes online at http://www.uaechallenge.com/calendar.htm

The closing date for projects will be February 25th. Finalists will be annouced on April 14th and the award ceremony will be held on April 25th 2004 in Dubai.

3. Upcoming Events
Ramadan is a month of fasting and will take place during the late part of October and most of November. There are no major announcements or press events planned during Ramadan.

December 16th will see us in Al Ain at the United Arab Emirates University doing another roadshow. During december we will also conduct a roadshow in Abu Dhabi at Zayed University.

On December 17th the Chairman of Jury Panel will be announced, along with the senior judging coordinators and the judging panel.

Recruitment of judges has begun and we are on target to forming the judging panel by December. Nominations for judges can be sent to uaechallenge@hct.ac.ae

Judges already appointed to the panel can be viewed online at http://www.uaechallenge.com/jurypanel2004.htm

In January we have been invited to the Fujairah Women's College, which will host a roadshow. More information about these roadshows will be given in future newsletters and on the website. Roadshows are open to the public and anyone can attend.

 

So that's it for this newsletter. Remember, all the top stories, feature articles, rules, projects and latest news can be found online at www.uaechallenge.com

If you have any questions, please email us at
uaechallenge@hct.ac.ae