The winners of the 54th Communicators in Business Awards were presented with their trophies by Steve Cram at a gala dinner in Newcastle on Friday 25 May 2007.
Gold awards were also be presented to the "best of the best" in each of their respective classes.
Karen Ainley
Karen Ainley started out in publishing before training as a journalist and working in newspapers, radio and television.
After nearly a decade with the BBC, she left in 1999 to set up Mosaic Publicity, an Essex-based PR and media training agency. Currently she is in huge demand for delivering podcasting training courses across the UK. Karen is a member of the CiB Eastern Region Committee.
Paul Brasington
Paul Brasington has worked as a freelance communication consultant and copywriter since 1992. Before turning freelance he held various communications consultancy roles, lastly as planning director at Publicis Dialogue (part of the Publicis group).
He has worked across a broad range of sectors including telecommunications and IT, healthcare, industrial relations, professional services, building products and luxury goods.
Paul is a fellow of the British Association of Communicators in Business and was its chairman from 2003-4. He continues to sit on its governing council and strategy development committee.
Steve Doswell
A former CiB national chairman, Steve Doswell is a communication consultant with clients including Rolls-Royce, National Grid Transco and Royal Bank of Scotland.
Following early local press experience in London, he worked in PR at Nationwide Building Society before becoming Nationwide's first internal communications manager.
A corporate communications management role with Birmingham Midshires followed before Steve set up as a consultant 10 years ago.
Mike Drake
Former Assistant Editor of Norwich Union (now Aviva) News, Mike Drake then moved to its Press Room and then to PR and Sponsorship. Mike freelanced for many years with BBC radio and television in Norwich as newsreader, presenter and continuity, as well as voiceovers for many studios. At the same time, he contributed to a number of business magazines.
Mike also freelances with the Eastern Daily Press in Norwich as an arts reviewer.
Keith Errington
Keith Errington is a web usability expert advising companies and communication consultancies on the best use of the web.
He has been editor of Internet Publishing, and has written or acted as advisor on articles in Graphics International, Creative Review, Direction Magazine, Hot Shoe International and the Financial Times. He has more than 15 years of professional consultancy experience and includes a passion for good design and typography among his interests.
Teresa Ford
Teresa Ford has more than 15 years' experience in communications, much of it gained in BT's corporate communication department.
Teresa now works as an independent communication specialist with clients in the public sector as well as the corporate world. She was the chair of the Internal Communication Association as it merged with the CiB.
Rob Hadgraft
Before moving into corporate communications, Rob Hadgraft spent 17 years as a reporter, sub-editor and editor in regional newspapers in the UK and abroad. He joined the RAC's PR team in 1992 and edited the award-winning 'Newslane' for eight years.
After a spell as the RAC group's corporate publications manager he turned freelance in 2000. Since then Rob has worked on a variety of projects, including writing a number of critically acclaimed sports books.
Alison Harmer
Alison Harmer is an award-winning writer and editor based in the Thames Valley. She has a solid track record of writing, editing and proofreading anything from press releases to complete publications for diverse readerships.
Alison has worked both sides of the corporate/agency fence, including a period as head of visual identity for a major investment bank, and set up Harmer Editorial Services in 2002.
Terry Hegarty
Terry Hegarty is head of retail distribution communications at Lloyds TSB, a role that includes strategic communications, planning, development and delivery covering 27,000 branch and 5,000 contact centre staff. He has been instrumental in creating an engagement programme to gain buy-in to a divisional strategy and developed the communication strategy that helped to deliver Investors in People re-accreditation.
Terry has held various roles with the bank since he joined in 1977. He is a member of the CiB's senior communicators' forum.
Chris Murray
Chris Murray began his career as editorial executive at the Daily Mail in 1977.
He then became editorial and design consultant and magazine editor/publisher.
He was a partner at Trident Communications from 1989 until 2004 and is now a creative consultant.
Chris is a fellow of the CiB.
Clare Parry
Clare Parry manages Arena, the group intranet for Aviva insurance group. She is responsible for the corporate news service, editorial content and for managing relationships with the technical team and content owners. Clare also manages the news and information on Insite, the intranet for Aviva's 650 head office staff.
Nick Reed
A former sports reporter and broadcaster, Nick Reed has worked as a freelance writer and editor in corporate communications for more than 20 years. Current clients include GSK, Nycomed, BP, Volvo and Rentokil Initial. He won an Award of Excellence in the Best Freelancer category at the 2001 Communicators in Business (CiB) Awards, and a Gold CiB Award in 2004 while editor of GSK Spirit.
Jenni Rodgers
Jenni Rodgers has specialised in internal communications for 13 years, with experience in the telecoms, banking and accountancy industries. She began her communications career with BT in 1994 in its UK customer-facing functions, moving to head internal communications and engagement with Egg in 2003. Most recently she joined Ernst & Young to lead its internal and external communications for the middle market business unit, as well as lead the corporate responsibility strategy for the regional UK offices.
Lee Smith
Lee Smith is a specialist in employee communication, engagement and change with more than 15 years' experience. He has held senior posts with a number of blue chip businesses, including Ernst & Young and HBOS.
A founder of Gatehouse, the employee communication agency, he now works with a variety of organisations to enhance their communications and mobilise their employees behind change.
Lee is UK Editor for Simply Communicate (www.simply-communicate.com) and Chair Elect of the Internal Communication Alliance. He judges various professional awards programmes and is a visiting lecturer at a number of leading universities.
Paul Stevens
Paul Stevens is account director for St Ives Direct, managing a team of nine who co-ordinate the workflow for 65 print customers.
St Ives' carries out digital print, sheet fed litho and web printing, plus lasering and mailing.
Paul began his career as a systems consultant for computer sales and desktop publishing. He joined St Ives in 2004.
FAQs
What are the CiB awards? The CiB awards recognise the very best in business communications. If you’ve got a piece of work you are proud of, whether it’s a complete publication or website, a single feature or even an image, the UK’s biggest and most prestigious business communication awards is the place to share it. The competition is open to business communicators from all countries, even if they are not members of the BACB.
When was the closing date for entries?
The closing date was 5 January 2007.
What are the categories?
Take a look for yourself - there are classes for newspapers, magazines, newletters, web sites, intranets, skills and many more.
How are the awards judged? Stage one - more than 60 judges will assess style, substance, impact, and excellence and will be looking for your communication to have had a measurable business impact. They give their assessment and top entries for…
Stage two - in an intensive ‘judges day’, the recommended entries are judged against each other by a panel of judges drawn from different areas of expertise. The individual Class Winner is then decided.
Stage three - a further panel of top industry experts chosen for their wide industry experience selects the Gold Award Winners for the appropriate classes.
What happened to the winners?
Class and Gold Award winners were presented with their trophies at the CiB Awards dinner on the evening of Friday 25 May 2007 at the Hilton Newcastle Gateshead . Steve Cram presented the main awards and Awards of Excellence winners had the opportunity to be photographed with their certificates before the event.
The winners of the 54th Communicators in Business Awards were presented with their trophies by Steve Cram at a gala dinner in Newcastle on Friday 25 May 2007.
