VW Communication Division wins Gold Quill Award

(L–R): Nicholas Batten (Manager: Communications), Matt Gennrich (General Manager: Communications) and Margaret Loughead (Internal Communications Officer)

The Communication Division also walked away with the Best of the Best Award in their category of Internal Communication Research for their project on Research for Improved Shop Floor Communication.

The Gold Quill Award programme received 875 entries in 2014 from around the world. Of those, 108 entries achieved an Award of Excellence while 173 were named Merit Award winners. Of the 108 entries which achieved an Award of Excellence, 13 were from South Africa.

"To win a Gold Quill Award of Excellence is a major achievement. The process is rigorous and the standard is extremely high. Each entry is evaluated by two evaluators, who consolidate their scores and submit a final score to the IABC in San Francisco," explained Dr Amanda Hamilton-Attwell, IABC 2014 Gold Quill Chair.

Global benchmark

To be nominated as the Best of the Best in a category is even a bigger achievement. "VWSA can regard themselves as providing the global benchmark for Communication Research with this project," Dr Hamilton-Attwell said.

This is first time that VWSA has entered and won a Gold Quill Award, which is the only programme of its kind that recognises the strength of research-based, strategy-driven work on an international scale.

"The award is testament to how passionate we are about improving the internal communication between leadership and shop floor levels," commented David Powels, VWSA managing director. "Volkswagen is extremely proud of this accolade and will endeavour to continually improve in the sphere of internal communication with innovative and exciting initiatives focused on enhancing our employees' experience in the workplace."