Internal communicators from across the UK gathered in London for the annual ceremony which recognises the best in the business.
BBC journalist and presenter Jeremy Vine handed out the prizes at the Institute of Internal Communication Awards 2011 – including three gold awards for the ‘crème de la crème’.
IoIC chairman Dominic Walters told the audience in the ballroom at the Park Lane Hilton:
“We know that it’s really tough out there and you should all know that if you’re here tonight because your work was shortlisted you’re all winners.
“We’ve seen inspirational strategies, effective communication and great delivery. The judges were staggered by the quality of the entries. It was very difficult to make decisions so you should be congratulated – you have beaten hundreds of entries to get here.”
There were 32 classes covering everything from printed magazines and newspapers to communication strategy and digital channels – and the presentation ended with three gold awards for the best overall entries in Publication, Digital Media and Strategy.
Dominic said: “These special awards were judged by an independent panel of comms professionals, looking for the crème de la crème.”
Golden winners
Best Publication:
The Link for security company G4S by Pressgang
“It’s just packed with news.” That was the answer provided by editor of The Link, Alan Ratcliffe when asked why it was a winner.
“We have around 80 stories per issue in just 20 pages,” he explained. “And it’s all about the employees - the people on the frontline rather than what the managers have to say. It makes it great to write for and great for the readers as well.”
The edition which won the gold award featured a front page splash about a GS4 employee who had been wrongly imprisoned in Afghanistan and eventually released after pressure from the company.
Editorial Director Steve Turner said: “When he came back to the UK, Alan was on the tarmac at Heathrow to interview him – that’s the sort of dedication that goes into the Link.”
And The Daily Mirror carried an interview as an exclusive six months later…
 Best Strategy:
Northern Stars by Northern Rail (Jane Lawrence and Peter Myers with Scarlett Abbott)
Northern Stars is an ongoing way of recognising good customer service by Northern Rail employees that culminates in a glitzy award ceremony and the annual Northern Star receiving a £4,000 holiday.
Not only has it boosted customer service scores, it has increased employee engagement and brand tracking figures.
Head of Internal Comms Jane Lawrence said: “The best thing we did was invite our strongest critic to get involved – Passenger Focus which is the rail watchdog.
“They run a national passenger survey and we get measured on it. Our scores weren’t acceptable for the size of our railway so we invited them to get involved with engaging our staff. They judge the awards and come along and present them and were integral to the whole campaign.”
Northern Stars is a simple campaign whereby employees can be nominated by colleagues or customers and three winners are selected each month, with the overall winner and three runners-up selected at the annual ceremony.
“The channels we used were quite basic but we reached our key audience,” said Jane. “We also did it without spending too much. We got sponsors and our suppliers chipped in and got lots of exposure because we branded everything internally and externally which meant the scheme was highlighted to our customers.”
Best Digital Media:
Connect mag for FremantleMedia by FremantleMedia and Sequel
FremantleMedia is the international production company behind TV programmes like The Apprentice, X Factor, and Britain’s Got Talent so internal communication has to fight pretty hard for attention.
Connect is an online interactive magazine that is published three times a year to employees in 22 countries.
“There’s so much going on we had to find a way to pack more in and grab people’s attention,” said Senior Vice President Corporate Communications Gene Clackley.
“Connect started off ages ago as a PDF magazine, which was quite static, but last year we launched it online and with much more interactivity.”
Corporate Communications Advisor Josephine Serieux added: “We’ve embedded video into it, graphics come in off the page. Instead of being one self-contained page, each one has breakouts from panels and has so much more activity on it. It’s so much more engaging.”
And they’re already looking into ways of adding even more features in the near future. Gene said: “Winning IoIC gold has made us feel completely excited, inspired and reinvigorated. It will help us go back and add even more to the magazine. There’s more we can do and being recognised will inspire us to do it.
Josephine added: “This is just the start. We’ve barely begun so to get recognised at this stage is fantastic!”
To view – and buy – photographs from the awards night click here > |
