Brazen takes the treble at CIPR awards

MORE than 300 people from the worlds of marketing and PR gathered for the annual North West CIPR awards last night to see Brazen PR walk away with the top award of the evening.

It is the third year in a row and the eighth time Manchester-based Brazen has picked up the award for Outstanding Public Relations Consultancy.

The agency, which celebrated a decade of business this year, also scooped two other gold awards for Consumer Relations and Best Website.

JAM PR, set up in 2007, took home the Outstanding Small Consultancy award, while the team at Stockport Council were named Outstanding In-House Public Relations Team, for the second year running.

Individual achievements were also celebrated on the night, with Geoff Muirhead CBE, former chief executive of Manchester Airports Group, awarded Communicator of the Year.

Tony Ingham, chief executive of IPB Communications, was awarded PR Professional of the Year, and Nikki Poyser from IAS b2b Marketing was crowned Outstanding Young Communicator. Best Freelancer went to Jane Hunt of Catapult PR.

Erin Portsmouth, chair of the CIPR North West Group, said: “It was a pleasure to reward the great work undertaken by PR professionals in the North West. The North West PRide Awards are seen as the industry standard across the region and are now established as the key awards and event in the annual calendar for communications professionals in Manchester and across the North West. The standard gets higher each year and so all of the winners and finalists should be very proud of their achievement.”

The event, held at Manchester’s Hilton hotel, also paid tribute to Ric Coggins, a well-respected PR professional from Wigan who passed away from bowel cancer earlier this year, aged 32.  Money was raised as part of a raffle on the night for Ric’s nominated charity, Lynn’s Bowel Cancer Campaign, which is backed by ex-BBC Watchdog presenter Lynn Faulds Wood, who has battled the disease.

Other winners were:

Corporate and Business Communications – Souter PR

Not-for-Profit – University of Salford and SKV Communications

Internal Communications – AstraZeneca

Crisis Communications – IPB Communications

Community Relations – Tangerine PR

Public Sector – McCann Manchester

Best Campaign £10,000 and Under – Euro RSCG PR UK

Best Use of Media Relations – Fido PR

Integrated Communications – United Utilities

Best Use of Social Media – Juice Digital

Best Use of Photography or Design – McCann Manchester

External Newspaper or Magazine – BJL

Internal Newspaper or Magazine – Souter PR

Best Event – Staniforth

Public Affairs – Manchester Airports Group

Corporate Responsibility – Euro RSCG PR Manchester

Publication – National Museums Liverpool