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Excellence Awards - the recognition you deserve

The Excellence Awards are simple to enter and whatever sector you are in, there will be a category that your achievements fit into. From Best Event to Best Website, Not-for-Profit or Public Affairs campaign – these are just four of 28 categories.

The CIPR Excellence Awards (Originally known as the IPR Sword of Excellence Awards) have been recognising excellence in PR & communications for over 20 years. The number of entries we receive grows year-on-year, and the standard of those entries is impressively high. Find out more about the 2008 Excellence Awards at www.cipr.co.uk/excellence

Boost your team morale

So why enter? In an article first published in Personnel Today magazine, Christine Cryne, then CEO at the Charted Institute of Marketing, pointed out that the whole awards experience can be as enriching as a team night out or work party. “Awards are great. They recognise success, improve morale and provide a perfect opportunity to take the team out for a celebration.” Read more about awards and their positive impact on staff morale at http://www.personneltoday.com/articles/2006/01/31/33651/everyones-a-winner.html

Enhance your reputation

Winning an award sets you apart from your competitors and is recognition for the great work you and your team do. Proud winners take away a trophy, a certificate for the office wall, and can add our ‘Winner’ or ‘Finalist’ logo to their website and email signatures. And for the runners-up, just to be a finalist is a huge achievement. Minus the trophy, the other benefits remain.

Talk through your possible entries

So if your brain is now swimming with ideas for entries, sit down with your colleagues and look at the campaigns you’ve managed in the last 12 months. Pinpoint what was special about them and then look at the categories you could enter them into. Maybe it’s your team or company you are especially proud of this year – or your newly promoted Account Director, whose achievements have seen them climb the company ladder in an astoundingly short time. The Individual & Team Awards categories allow for reward in all of these areas and more.

Find out how to make the grade – Judgement Day

Improve your chances of winning and come along to one of our Judgement Day evenings, which invite past and present Excellence Award judges to share their top tips – from the initial entry stage through to the panel interview.  Come and ask any questions you or your colleagues have and make your entry shine. 

Judgement Day will take place on two dates in February, Monday 4 February and Wednesday 13 February.  Drinks reception and networking at 6pm, followed by the presentation 6.30 – 8.00pm.
Book your place online at www.cipr.co.uk/judgementday

Closing date for entries is Friday 29 February. Good luck!

Develop your skills in the New Year

Another year has passed so quickly. Have you set your New Year resolution and did you achieve your goals last year? Needless to say, you should have realised that the most difficult part about goal setting is having the determination to stay committed. One useful and realistic goal that you can set this year is to embark on some training programmes to upgrade your skills.

For a start, you can take a look at the new 2008 CIPR Spring/Summer training programme online at www.cipr.co.uk/training, which is a comprehensive training programme covering a wide range of fundamental topics such as ‘Creativity in PR’, ‘Brand marketing in PR campaigns’ and ‘PR on a low budget’.

Do not fret if time has always been a deterrent to your development progress as the brand new series of ‘Freshly Squeezed’ breakfast briefings will return in April, to provide all the essential bite-size training you need. Alternatively, you may wish to take a day off to learn how to better manage your time at the new ‘Effective time & stress management’ workshop in our Personal Development category.

Looking at the ‘Trends to watch in 2008’ from the Advertising Age online web page at http://adage.com/article?article_id=122609 , the year ahead certainly looks challenging. New media opportunities will continue to grow and it's vital that practitioners know how to use these new channels. Don’t miss the CIPR ‘Introduction to Social Media’ workshop if you are looking to upgrade your knowledge and skills.

To help you stay ahead of the industry, you will be delighted to know that the CIPR has launched a new series of highly practical masterclasses that focus on providing you with information, advice and solutions to a range of hot topics including ‘New Media for old hands – have you been left behind?’ and ‘Managing your PR career’. More information can be found at http://www.cipr.co.uk/masterclass/

What’s more, there is an increased number of workshops taking place in Scotland, Leeds and Birmingham this Spring - www.cipr.co.uk/workshops So living outside of London poses no problem.

For further information on training and development, please visit www.cipr.co.uk/training

Choo-Li Tan, CIPR Training Development Officer