Ta'aheel, the region's premier events management company and consultant for the beverage industry, announced the winners of the 2008 Qatrah Award, during a glittering award ceremony at the Madinat Jumeirah, Dubai, on Monday night.

Held as part of the 2nd Arab Beverages Forum at the Dubai World Trade Centre, the Qatrah Award recognized the Arab world’s best brands in the following categories: bottled water, carbonated and soft drinks, fruit juices, dairy beverages, and hot beverages.

Unilever Lipton Tea-UAE won the ‘Best Hot Beverage of the Year’ award, beating other finalists Al Rabie-KSA, Al Sultan Tea–UAE and Ahmad Tea-UK.

Al Rawabi-UAE pipped Almarai-KSA and Al Rabie-KSA to win the ‘Best Juice Beverage of the Year’ award; Safi Danone-KSA beat other finalists Nestle-UAE and NFPC-KSA to claim the ‘Best Dairy Beverage of the Year’ award; Red Bull won the ‘Best Carbonated Soft Drink of the Year’ award beating Magic-UAE and Mecca Cola; while Aqua Pax-UK beat Al Ain Mineral Water-UAE, Evian Springs Water to be named the ‘Best Bottled Water of the Year’.

International beverage industry experts and representatives from the UAE University’s College of Food and Agriculture, Emirates Academy and Dubai Municipality, formed the panel of judges for the award, which evaluated the packaging designs, marketing strategies, and ingredients of each participating product.
    
Congratulating all the finalists and winners of the Qatrah Award, Sharaf Dabbagh, president of Ta'aheel, said it was again a closely-fought contest between over 200 leading beverage companies from across the Arab world.

"The award duly recognises the commitment of the regional beverage industry that has enabled it to perfectly identify consumer requirements and respond with utmost creativity and innovation in product content and marketing strategy to efficiently satisfy consumer expectations," he observed.           

The criteria for the Qatrah Award are patterned after the awards given by well-established regional beverage groups, notably the New Zealand Juice and Beverage Association, the Beverage Marketing Corporation and Beverage World in the US, and the European Beverages Associations.

The Arab Beverages Forum 2008 - sponsored by the Arab Beverage Association (ABA) and Tetra Pak - has been reputed as the pioneering forum dedicated to the Arab beverage industry.

The topics that were discussed at the forum include latest market trends, strategies and best practices, and a number of critical issues that affect suppliers, retailers, creative marketers, managers and consumers in the beverage industry.

The forum also offered an in-depth market perspective from a combined knowledge base, which is otherwise unavailable elsewhere.-TradeArabia News Service