African communicators boast 6 Gold Quills and 2 special awards at IABC

Image supplied. This year the Africa region of the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) Gold Quill Awards boasts six Gold Quills Awards and two special awards

Volkswagen Group SA and DevCom received a Best of the Best award for VWSA Communication Excellence Training.

Recommended by evaluators and reviewed by the Gold Quill Awards chair, vice chair, and past chair, the Best of the Best winners represent the very best entries seen across the globe.

DevCom and Builders Zambia were also presented with the Jake Wittmer Research Award for Research Informed regional focused integrated marketing for Builders Zambia for outstanding research by a communicator that was instrumental in ensuring the success of a communication programme.

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Recognising excellence in strategic communications

The IABC has been recognising excellence in strategic communication worldwide for over 40 years.

The Gold Quill Awards is the only programme that honours the dedication, innovation, and passion of communicators on a global scale. Since 2008, almost 6,000 projects have been entered.

This year, 395 entries were received from across the world, delivering 82 merit awards and 52 excellence awards.

The winning entries come from public and private sector organisations of all sizes in the world.

Winning African entries

Awards of Excellence

• Communication Research category – DevCom and Builders Zambia: Research Informed regional focused integrated marketing for Builders Zambia” submitted by Mari Lee and the Builders Zambia team.
  
• Writing category – Melagrana for integrated sustainability reporting, leadership communication and business, submitted by Ilse Blank.
• Communication Education & Training category – Volkswagen Group SA and DevCom for VWSA Communication Excellence Training, submitted by Nicholas Batten, Margaret Loughead, Liza Wilmot, Ilze Olivier, Mari Lee, Therésa Lee, and Christine Bree.

Awards of Merit

• Special & Experiential category – Nando’s: Nando’s Grillers’ Challenge 2021 submitted by Palesa Tshabalala.
  
• Special & Experiential category – Anglo American: Investing in Africa Mining Indaba 2022 submitted by Rochelle De Paiva.
  
• Internal Communications category – Thungela Resources: Thungela Internal Communication: Igniting Company Passion submitted by Tarryn Genis.

Each of these entries exhibits the highest standard of communication strategy and execution.

Professional communicators with more than 10 years of experience evaluate the Gold Quill entries against established criteria aligned to IABC’s Global Standard of the communication profession.

Entries are scored independently by two evaluators, who reconcile scores during face-to-face sessions in multiple locations around the world.

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Blue Ribbon panels

South Africa also has hosted such sessions, called Blue Ribbon panels, for many years. Therésa Lee, IABC Africa Quill Coordinator, expressed pride in the achievement of African communicators and emphasised the significance of their contributions to the field of communication.

“Thank you to all who entered, and congratulations to our winners. Africa’s communicators count amongst the best of the best in the world. Your efforts are raising the bar and building legacies that not only inspire professionals all over the world but also deliver impact and grow the body of work in our profession."

The 2023 Gold Quill Awards reception took place on 6 June 2023 at the 2023 IABC World Conference in Toronto.