Brazen leads the way at CIPR awards

MORE than 350 people from the worlds of marketing and PR gathered for the annual CIPR Awards last night, which saw Manchester’s Brazen PR walk away with the grand prix prize.

The North West awards were held at the Hilton hotel in Manchester, where the award for Outstanding Public Relations Consultancy went to Manchester’s Brazen, which scooped two other awards for Best Event and Consumer Relations – both for its work with board game Monopoly.

The Outstanding PR Professional award went to John Williams of Mason Williams, while SKV’s Heather Price was presented with the Outstanding Young Communicator award.

Agencies Weber Shandwick and BJL Group both walked away from the evening with two Gold and two Silver awards each, Cheshire’s McCann Erickson won two Golds, and Staniforth, Impact Media PR and Communique PR all scooped one each.

Cameron Wells Communications, based in Sale, took the award for Outstanding Small Consultancy of the Year and also a Gold in the Corporate & Business Communications category. 

Dave Sanders, chair of the CIPR North West group, said: ““There were more than 200 entries in this year’s North West PRide Awards, so winning an award is proof that the work completed by an organisation has been judged to be among the best of the best.

“This year, as the recession has hit hard across the industry, it’s encouraging to see top campaigns receiving the recognition they deserve; it makes me proud to work in PR.  Many congratulations to the winners and all those who were shortlisted this year.”

Other winners were:

Outstanding In-House PR Team – Cumbria County Council

Not for Profit – Impact Media PR

Internal Communications – Manchester Airports Group

Crisis Communications – National Grid

Measurement and Evaluation – Weber Shandwick

Community Relations – BJL Group

Public Affairs – Manchester Airports Group

Public Sector – BJL Group

Low Budget – Weber Shandwick

Best Use of Media Relations – SKV for Blackpool – J’aime La Tour

Integrated Communications – Communique Public Relations

Best use of Social Media – McCann Erickson Communications House

Corporate Responsibility – McCann Erickson Communications House

Best Use of Photography or Design – Staniforth

Best Newspaper or Magazine – Stockport College

Best Publication – MIDAS

Best Leaflet – MIDAS

Best Website – BAE Systems