The organising committee of the Bahrain eContent Award 2009 has announced that the number of applications to enter the competition has exceeded expectations, just a few days after the announcement of next year’s contest.

Interest in the event has been stimulated by the addition of  two new categories, e-banking and e-media, two of the fastest growing areas due to the growth of these sectors, which has increased the total number of categories to 10.

'These awards have been created to encourage fresh talent and unleash innovative Bahraini initiatives, and will help to lay the foundations of an advanced and modern electronic information industry in the Kingdom,' stated Ahmed Al Hujairi, organizing committee chairman.

'We received a massive response to the awards in  previous years with the number of contestants doubling from 150 in 2005 to 300 in 2007 and we are confident that this year we will receive an even bigger number of applicants from a broad range of age groups including the private and public sector.'

eContent Award winners will win a chance to represent Bahrain in the World Summit Awards, which will be held in Mexico during May 2009.-TradeArabia News Service