Prisa/Financial Mail Prism Awards - Winners

According to Morne Ebersohn, Chairman of PRISA's Public Relations Consultants' Chapter, not all the categories were awarded. "The judging process for this year's PRISM awards was stricter than previous years, as the judges felt that the standard of the awards had to be raised. While most of the categories did attract entries from both corporate companies and public relations consultants, the feeling was that not all the entries deserved an award," he said.

The winners were:

1. The Chairman's Award was given to PR Africa for its entry in the new category Consultancy of the Year. "No entries qualified for the Consultancy of the Year category award created this year, but the judges felt that PR Africa should be rewarded for its innovative business regeneration project completed for the consultancy. The executive team at PR Africa put some serious thought into reengineering the consultancy, and achieved very impressive results for the consultancy," said Ebersohn.

2. Award: Communications Consultants sponsored Best Media/Publicity Relations award
Winner: Corporate Communications Consultants
Project: Discovery Everest 2003 Expedition
Client: Discovery Health

A special mention was given to Marcus Brewster Publicity for its "FHM 100 Sexiest Women in the World" project completed on behalf of FHM.

3. Award: Consumer Relations
There were no winners in this category, but a special mention was given to Ekurhuleni Metropolitan for their "Siyakhokha Siyakhusela" Because we pay, we protect Campaign.

4. Award: CIMA sponsored Corporate and Financial Award
Winner: Fleishman Hillard SA
Project: Creating Brand Value Together
Client: Comparex Africa

5. A special mention was given to Curamed Specialised Hospitals for the "Healthy Living for a Healthy Heart" project in the category Corporate and Social Responsibility

6. Award: Veracity Incorporated sponsored Integrated Communication Award
Winner: BlackRock PR Communications
Project: Enthronement of Kgosi
Client: Royal Bafokeng Administration

A special mention was given to Sakaza Communications (Pty) Ltd for its "To Brand, Launch & Market the New Brand Identity for Nelson Mandela Metropolitan Municipality - Nelson Mandela Bay" completed on behalf of the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan Municipality.

7. Award: Special Award Category - Special Event Award
Winner: Next Generation Communication
Project: Cape Times Big Walk
Client: Big Walk Trust

"To a large extent this year's Financial Mail PRISA PRISM awards entries were very disappointing. In many cases the entries were of a lower quality than we expected, and simply did not deserve any awards. The PRISM awards plays a very important role in setting a benchmark for the public relations and communication profession, and we hope that the standard of the next PRISM awards entries reflect the quality of work done in South Africa during 2004," said Ebersohn.

According to Ebersohn he is concerned about the quality of entries this year, and the apparent lack of interest shown by some of the larger public relations and communication consultants in South Africa to take part in the PRISM awards. "What concerns me most is the apparent apathy of public relations and communication practitioners to play an active role in the profession. I sometimes get the feeling that practitioners fail to understand that unless they become actively involved in initiatives to promote and enhance their profession, the standard will continue to deteriorate. At this stage it is extremely difficult to determine the value of the public relations and communication profession as well as the standard, and this is mainly because practitioners do not take part in industry surveys and benchmarking initiatives," he said.

Ebersohn said that both PRISA and the PRCC will launch initiatives during the course of 2004 which will aim to entrench professional standards as well as promote the value of the public relations profession in South Africa. "We need to become more pro-active in raising the standards, but we are going to need the full support of the entire profession. If we fail to do this, I can only predict that the perceptions some corporate companies, journalists and opinion leaders foster about us will continue."