Ahmed Aboushabab is Deputy Head of Creative at (IMI), leading creative transformation across the Middle East’s leading Arabic news brands, including Sky News Arabia, CNN Business Arabic, The National, and Al Ain News. With over 23 years of experience across MBC Group, Asharq Bloomberg, and CNBC Arabia, he specializes in broadcast branding and storytelling tailored to Arabic-speaking audiences. A Certified Professional Trainer (CPT) and AI Media Coach, Ahmed regularly serves as a jury member for leading international and regional creative awards, contributing Middle East perspectives to global creative standards.

How many years have you been a judge?

1-3 years

What excited you about judging for the Telly Awards?

What truly excites me about judging for the Telly Awards is its position at the very top of the global creative ecosystem. I have always admired it from both sides of the journey. I was honored to be a winner, and being invited to judge feels like coming full circle. It is an opportunity to give back, to evaluate work at the highest standard, and to engage with ideas that genuinely push the industry forward.

What was your first job in the industry? What did it teach you?

Because I started as a news cutter, that experience gave me my strongest creative foundation. Sitting behind the edit system day after day trained my eye before it trained my ego. You learn how to see rhythm, tension, and story in real time. When you cut news, creativity is not optional, it is survival. That phase shaped my creative vision more than anything else, and honestly, once you learn creativity under newsroom pressure, everything else feels manageable.

What project are you most proud to have worked on?

I am especially proud of relaunching CNBC Arabia 2017 and being part of the founding and launch team for Asharq Bloomberg 2019. These were not simply channel launches, they were defining moments that reshaped identity, tone, and creative ambition at a regional level. I am also proud of leading the creative relaunch of Sky News Arabia during the COVID period, a time of extreme pressure and uncertainty, where speed mattered more than ever. Delivering transformation in that moment proved that strong creative leadership is most visible when conditions are at their toughest.

What’s the most challenging part about your job and/or the industry?

The COVID period was one of the toughest moments in my career. It challenged resources, communication, human connection, and team psychology all at once. Leading through that uncertainty taught me calm responsibility and The POWER IS IN THE TEAM. Those challenges also opened many doors for me as a creative media leader. Today, innovation moves at a similar pace. Change is constant, and the real test is not new tools, but maintaining quality, clarity, and credibility while moving fast.

What do you look for to determine excellence in video?

For me, excellence starts with the idea. Creativity and originality are the foundation. Then I look at how innovation is used to elevate that idea. Technology, tools, and techniques should serve the story, not distract from it. When creativity and innovation work together in a smart, intentional way, the result is powerful and memorable.

What are your current roles and responsibilities and what do you love most about your job?

I am the Deputy Head of Creative at Sky News Arabia at IMI . My role is creative leadership, innovation, branding, AR, VR and AI driven storytelling across multiple platforms. What I love most is witnessing evolution in real time. I started in an era of machine to machine production, very linear and technical. Today, we are shaping ideas with AI, speed, and imagination. Seeing that transformation happen day by day is incredibly amazing .

What initiatives or projects are you working on now that excite you?

I am deeply involved in AI driven creative projects and in teaching AI creativity for media and social platforms. What excites me most is the speed at which ideas can now become reality. AI has shortened the distance between imagination and execution, and that is forcing the industry to rethink innovation itself.

Do you have any specific practices you lean on to spark creativity?

I truly believe creativity thrives in environments that feel human. I try to focus on team building, making work enjoyable, and nurturing a culture of trust. Continuous learning matters to me, both soft and hard skills, along with allowing space for breaks, recognition, and experimentation. Working with diverse cultures and backgrounds consistently shows me how much stronger ideas become when people feel safe, valued, and curious. That is when creativity starts to flow naturally.

What inspired you to pursue your career path?

This career keeps me feeling young. It allows me to stay curious, a little crazy, and always open to new possibilities. I truly believe that if something has been done before, it means it can be done again, and often better. That belief in possibility has guided my journey from the start. I am also deeply grateful to the mentors I learned from across the Middle East top TV channels. Their guidance, trust, and belief shaped the way I think about creativity and leadership.

In your experience, what is a significant change you are seeing happen in the video, television, and/or film industry, and what insight can you share about how to navigate it?

In my 24 years in the industry, I have never witnessed a transformation of this scale. AI has changed everything permanently. My insight is simple: AI does not replace expertise, it amplifies it. An expert using AI can create extraordinary work. The key is to lead the technology, not fear it, and to keep sharpening human judgment, taste, and storytelling while embracing new tools.