Motivating Akld for charity wins supreme PR award

PRINZ 2007 Award Winners, and Fellows announced
26/05/2007

Public Relations Institute of New Zealand
Media release

25 May 2007 Embargoed until 7.30 pm 25 May

Motivating Auckland for charity wins supreme PR award

A public relations campaign that saw Aucklanders donate tens of thousands of unwanted items to the city’s largest ever garage sale was announced as the Supreme Award winner of the Public Relations Institute of New Zealand (PRINZ) awards tonight.

Sherson Willis consultancy’s ‘Bank of New Zealand Get Organised New Zealand’ campaign was carried out on behalf of Preventing Violence in the Home (PVH), a not-for-profit charity established to support families at risk. The $400,000 raised from the garage sale was used to fund a rapid response unit for children.

Trish Sherson and Rewa Willis undertook the PR project with the support of public relations students from AUT University – Tee Twyford, Thomas Pryor, Holly McLune and Tori Spence. The campaign also won the Pro Bono category (projects carried out on a no-charge basis) of the annual awards that are designed to recognise the best PR campaigns and programmes of the year.

Convenor of the Supreme Award judges, outgoing PRINZ President Lisa Finucane, said that the PR around ‘Get Organised New Zealand’ had been a massive undertaking with a complex set of relationships to be managed in a very short time frame.

“This award entry demonstrated how an overseas model can be tailored well for local conditions. They achieved excellent media exposure and results that clearly met the objectives of the campaign, which made it the stand-out of the year for the judges,” she said.

“We were also impressed with the way Sherson Willis worked with the Communications students, both increasing the resources available to them, and providing unique learning and mentoring opportunities for the young practitioners.”

Judges for the Supreme Award, which is selected from the category winners, included Michelle Boag of PR People, media commentator and journalist Deborah Hill Cone, and guest judge Professor Anne Gregory of the Leeds Metropolitan University.

Other category winners included
Marketing PR:
‘The Launch of the Pink Nokia Phone’, Kerry Monighan and Rebecca Little, Professional Public Relations (PPR).

Government PR:
‘Change for the Better’, Anthea Black, Reserve Bank of New Zealand.
Special Event/Project; joint winners:
‘Fayreform National Breast Pride Week’, Shannon Huse, Claudia Macdonald, Jenna Drinkwater and Michelle Stewart, Mango Communications
‘101 Must-Do’s for Kiwis’, Zoe Bickerstaffe, Simon Lambourne and Anthea McLeary, The New Zealand Automobile Association.

Young Practitioner of the Year: Jane Hardey, Text 100 New Zealand.

Also at tonight’s PRINZ award dinner, eight senior public relations practitioners were inducted as Fellows of the institute.

Fellows are recognised for their significant contribution to the PR industry and often influence the future direction, ethics and practice of the public relations sector in New Zealand.

The 2007 Fellows are:
Malcolm Boyle, Director, Star Public Relations
Carrick Graham, Director, CGL Group Public Relations
Jane Sweeney, Managing Director, Porter Novelli
Paul Thomson, Communicators Manager, North Shore City Council
Annette Burgess, Principal, ImPRovit Public Relations, Rotorua
Bruce Fraser, Group Manager of Community Relations, Environment Bay of Plenty, Whakatane
Margie Comrie, Massey University Associate Professor of Communication and Journalism, Wellington
Paul Harrison, Public Relations Consultant and CEO of Kapiti Districts Aero Club, Paraparaumu
Fiona Cassidy, Public Relations Consultant,f Wellington.

ENDS

www.shersonwillis.com

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