DUBAI: US TV channel E! is hoping to engage Middle Eastern audience by dedicating a category of the upcoming E! People’s Choice Awards to the Arab region.
For the first time, the E! People’s Choice Awards has dedicated a category to the Middle East – the Middle Eastern Social Media Star of 2021 – with eight contenders from the region in the running.
In the race to be crowned the Middle Eastern Social Media Star of 2021 are Syrian comedian and actor Amr Maskoun; Kuwaiti style icon and fashion influencer Ascia; Saudi Arabian fashion and style influencer Alanoud Badr, who goes by the online name Fozaza; Lebanese fashion guru and lifestyle influencer Karen Wazen; Emirati storyteller Khalid Al-Ameri; Egyptian Instagram sensation and beauty influencer Logina Salah; Iraqi YouTube sensation Noor Stars; and Bahraini filmmaker Omar Farooq.
“This last year has been game changing for creators — and in one of the toughest years of my career, it means the world to have been recognized and nominated,” Ascia said, according to a released statement.
For her part, Fozaza said: “It’s always a blessing and a reward in itself to be recognized and acknowledged for your passions, especially in the Middle East. I’m very grateful to be nominated for the People’s Choice Awards mainly because the people are the ones I do this for every day.”
“I’m so proud that there’s a category celebrating Middle Eastern voices. I’ve been such a fan of the People’s Choice Awards for years and to be nominated is already a win for me,” Wazen said, with Al-Ameri adding “since we started our journey of entertaining people on social media our goal has always been to build bridges between different parts of the world, to bring people closer together, and to show the world that there is more that makes us similar than makes us different. Just being recognized and nominated by the People’s Choice Awards on the other side of the world is an achievement in itself, and lets us know that we are on the right track, that our work is making a difference.”
The official voting window is from 27 October to 17 November. Fans can vote up to 25 times per day, per category on www.votepca.com/me.