Winners take all at PRISM awards

Splash PR and Media Consultants won the overall Gold Award at the 2012 PRISM Awards for its ‘Vote for Table Mountain’ public relations campaign. The awards were held in Johannesburg last night [March 25] at the Hyatt Regency hotel.

The agency, based in Cape Town, beat 214 other entries to take top honours at the public relations and communication industry awards. The ‘Vote for Table Mountain’ campaign aimed to encourage South Africans to vote in support of the Table Mountain bid to be named as one of the new seven Wonders of Nature. Following incredible media support and an astounding 1 967 editorials, Table Mountain was named one of the New 7 Wonders (N7W) of Nature on November 11, 2011.

“This was an innovative and creative campaign, with some great support garnered from celebrities to drive the cause,” said Marilyn Watson of Cinnamon Communication, PRISM 2012 chief judge. “It exceeded expectations and went beyond the call of duty on a very low budget and extremely limited resources, utilising what was available in every creative way possible.”

In addition to one overall Gold Award winner, 66 other awards were presented – 19 Gold, 25 Silver and 22 Bronze. Campaigns were submitted in a format that included five key judging criteria: understanding and statement of the problem/opportunity, research, planning, execution and evaluation.

NGAGE won the Gold Award for the Best Small Public Relations Consultancy while Renay Tandy, an account director at NGAGE, received the Gold Award for Best Public Relations Professional in Media Liaison.

Ogilvy Public Relations (Cape Town) won Gold for their Be the Bozza campaign that was an entry in the Consumer PR for an Existing Product category. They also took Gold in Reputation and Brand Management Online category for Carling Black Label. And, still with client, Carling Black Label, won Gold for sponsorship for its Carling Not Darling campaign and for thought leadership in the public sector.

Best Up-and-coming Public Relations Professional Award was presented to Kelly Webster, an account manager at PR Worx.

“Our industry is increasingly recognising the stature and credibility of winning a PRISM Award – as evidenced by the 30% increase in entries we received this year,” says Watson. “There is a growing understanding of the importance and relevance of the awards and the positive impact it has on winners’ businesses. Our award winners must have surpassed ‘business as usual’, being those that have pushed the boundaries of creativity and innovation.”