LEGO® Middle East Announces Winner of Trip to LEGO® House in Billund with #SheBuiltIt

The month-long competition draws to a close with a dream-come-true experience in celebration of the International Day of the Girl.

October 13th, 2019 Dubai (UAE): In celebration of the “International Day of the Girl,” LEGO® Middle East announced the winner of their social media competition, #SheBuiltIt. Joy Alnemri,age 6, who crafted a model of a soccer field made entirely of LEGO bricks, won a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to visit the LEGO® House in Billund, Denmark with her family. There, she will take part in fun-filled activities including the chance to program robots in the Robo Lab, produce stop motion video in Story Lab, and build a LEGO® fish that comes to life in a digital aquarium.

Developed to empower girls to embrace their individuality, #SheBuiltIt underlined the importance of gender equality in play by encouraging girls to showcase their skills through unique builds made of LEGO® bricks. Seeing participation by over 100 girls across the UAE, the challenge served as a reminder to parents, families, and the wider community that girls are equally as capable as boys to showcase their skills through intricate LEGO® models.

“We are very pleased and inspired by the great turnout of participants who took part in the #SheBuiltIt competition,” said Urszula Bieganska, Head of Marketing, LEGO® Middle East & Africa. “Our vision at LEGO® has always been to encourage children of all ages to embrace who they are through unrestricted play, regardless of their gender. I’m delighted to relay my congratulations to Joy, as well as all our young female participants who showed off their skills and truly embodied the message behind #SheBuiltIt.”

To encourage more girls to take part in the competition, girls visited LEGO® Certified Stores throughout the month of September, where they took part in fun-packed building workshops featuring various themes, including “Your Future Home;” “Your Future Self;” and “Your Favorite Pet.” Drawing to a close on September 30th, the competition’s winner was selected based on the post that generated maximum engagement and by final jury selection.

Speaking about her daughter’s LEGO creation, Rasha Alnemri said “Joy came up with the idea of building the soccer field herself, involving the whole family in her project. She insisted on having boys and girls play together to show that girls can do anything that boys can. We’re so proud of her idea and her persistence to continue until her build was complete. When we told Joy that she won, she said, ‘Yes, girls can do it! Girls can do anything; I did it!’ We want to thank LEGO for this important initiative and are so happy to take part in spreading this message. We need to insist on gender equality in the Middle East if we are to positively influence how young girls view themselves in the future.”

Open to the public, the celebration event, held at the LEGO® store located at the Mall of Emirates in Dubai, awarded four runner-up participants with certificates of achievement and hampers filled with products from some of the brand’s most beloved line of LEGO® sets. On this very special day, every girl took part in face painting, LEGO® mosaic-building activities, and joined in on the fun by building their very own LEGO Tulip® to take home in commemoration of the occasion. Born out of LEGO’ wider regional initiative, #SheBuiltIt reinforces the brand’s larger mission of giving children the chance to shape their own world through imaginative play.

About the LEGO Group
The LEGO Group is a privately held, family-owned company with headquarters in Billund, Denmark, and main offices in Enfield, USA, London, UK., Shanghai, China, and Singapore. Founded in 1932 by Ole Kirk Kristiansen, and based on the iconic LEGO® brick, it is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of play materials.

Guided by the company spirit: “Only the best is good enough”, the company is committed to the development of children and aims to inspire and develop the builders of tomorrow through creative play and learning. LEGO products are sold worldwide and can be virtually explored at www.LEGO.com. For more news from the LEGO Group, information about our financial performance and responsibility engagement, please visit http://www.LEGO.com/aboutus

LEGO and the LEGO logo are trademarks of the LEGO Group. ©2018 The LEGO Group

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