Open Road named 'Consultancy of the Year' at Public Affairs News Awards 2010
Open Road, Blue Rubicon and PLMR were among the winners at the sixth Public Affairs News Awards.
The awards ceremony was held, for the second successive year, at the Brewery in the City of London. This year’s presenter was BBC chief political correspondent Laura Kuenssberg.
Open Road saw off powerful challenges from Hanover and Edelman to be crowned ‘Consultancy of the Year’ at the 27 October event.
Blue Rubicon walked off with the new prize of ‘Best Use of Social Media in a Public Affairs Campaign’ for the agency’s work for Facebook.
PLMR won another category that was newly introduced for this year’s awards: ‘Best Agency to Work For’.
The ‘Outstanding Contribution’ honour went to industry veteran Keith McDowall, while Insight Public Affairs director James Tyrrell was named ‘Consultant of the Year’.
Prudential’s Timothy Fassam won the hotly contested prize for ‘Rising Star – Individual’, a category that saw an unprededented four contenders shortlisted. The ‘Rising Star – Consultancy’ title went to Curtin & Co.
The British Heart Foundation was named ‘In-House Team of the Year’ and Demos won ‘Think-Tank of the Year’. The Local Government Association won ‘Trade Body of the Year’.
PayPoint, working with Interel Consulting UK, bagged the ‘Campaign of the Year – Private Sector’ prize, while the ‘Campaign of the Year – Voluntary Sector’ trophy was handed to Cancer Research UK.
The winner of ‘Campaign of the Year – Devolved Administrations’, a new category this year, was Capability Scotland. ComRes, meanwhile, was named ‘Pollster of the Year’.
Public Affairs News editor Ian Hall, who chaired the 24-strong judging panel, said: “It was a fantastic night, the culmination of almost 12 months’ planning - well done to all the winners. In many categories it was very tough to decide the best entry. Thank you to everyone who attended, all the judges and our headline sponsor, Weber Shandwick.
“It has been a tough couple of years for many people in the industry and Public Affairs News, and publisher Dods, greatly appreciates everyone who engages with the awards programme. Thank you.”
*** Don't forget to check out the November edition of Public Affairs News - out in the week commencing Monday 1 November - for a full picture gallery from the night/winners' supplement, etc.
28th October 2010 by PAN staff
