The Johannesburg Youth Theatre (JYT) is pleased to announce that its Public Relations and Media Campaign, titled Curtain Up! (Act I), has been selected as one of three finalists in the arts category of the International Public Relations Association's (IPRA) Golden World Awards for Excellence 2005. Joyce Levinsohn, Artistic Dircetor of the JYT flanked by Mixael de Kock of The Maverick Group and Sydwell Koopedi the JYT's media liason officer |
"We were overjoyed when we received notification that our campaign reached the finals," says Joyce Levinsohn, Artistic Director of the JYT. "Being recognised as one of the three best in the world in the category is very motivating for us. Our nomination was pitted against some of the biggest international PR agencies - with mega-budgets at their disposal - and, quite frankly, we never expected to get this far!"
Sydwell Koopedi, media liaison officer for the JYT says that the educational youth theatre project is a non-profit organisation (NPO) and is dependent substantially on grants and donations for funding. "Our campaigns, therefore, relied entirely on solid research, originality and accuracy in planning and creativity and innovation in its execution."
According to Mixael de Kock of The Maverick Group, which assists the JYT in developing its PR and media campaigns, says: "The partnership between the JYT and our company represents the formidable interaction between two diverse fields of communication: Theatre and Public Relations." Joyce Levinsohn says that the consultancy immediately grasped the essence of the JYT, identifying the synergies between the two disciplines, and developed imaginative theatrical campaigns. "These addressed complex challenges and inspired both the media and the public."
The winners and runners-up of the IPRA GWA Awards will be announced at a banquet scheduled to take place on Thursday, 3rd November at the Liberal Club in London: http://www.nlc.org.uk/pages/nlch.htm. In the interim period, an entirely new panel of jurors will decide the overall winner as well as the winners of the additional awards for Creativity, Research and the UN Prize for Social Responsibility.
