The Institute of Public Relations of Singapore celebrated its 11th biennial PRISM Awards at the Marina Bay Sands last Friday, only the second major event to be held at the new casino (and thankfully, the lights stayed on this time).
Agencies led the night, with Weber Shandwick taking home a whopping 4 awards, followed closely by Ogilvy with three. However, in-house PR was well represented by teams from Republic Polytechnic, the Singapore Civil Defence Force, and ITE with Director and CEO Bruce Poh Geok Huat nominated as this year’s Outstanding PR Champion.
Hosted by Fly Entertainment’s Irene Ang and IPRS’ own Michael Rose, the awards (which we learned stand for PR In the Service of Mankind) recognized the contributions of individuals and organizations to the practice of public relations.
It was a good chance to see the communications industry in Singapore come together – across industry sectors from in-house representatives, to agencies (and even media intelligence providers) – to celebrate the growth of the PR industry in Singapore.
One key takeaway: current president Ng Wei Joo’s cautioning note not to forget the recent history of the global economic downturn, saying that “as we welcome the silver lining that now emerges, we should take heed of the lessons that the recent upheaval has taught us. Let us strive for even higher professional standards. Let us not lose sight of our mission.”To recap a few of the night’s winners:
Outstanding Overall Corporate Reputation Programme – Singapore
Merit
Open Doors: The Truth Behind McDonald’s Food
(Golin Harris)
Royal Caribbean Cruises – Full Steam Ahead
(Weber Shandwick)
Investor relations
Merit
Engineering the Success of an IPO During Turbulent Times
(Weber Shandwick)
Public Service Campaigns
Excellence
READ!Singapore 2009
(National Library Board & Edelman)
Merit
Health Promotion Board – “Dementia: Understand, Identify, Reduce Risk”
(Ogilvy Health)
Merit
National Family Celebrations 2008
(Asia PR Werkz)
Outstanding Campaigns by Non-Government Organizations
Excellence
Do it Your Way: Active Ageing Heroes
(Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide)
Excellence
The Boys’ Brigade Sharity Gift Box 2007 and 2008
(Asia PR Werkz)
Corporate Social Responsibility
Excellence
STAR HomeTouch
(NBS Consulting Pte Ltd)
Merit
HP Power to Change Campaign
(Waggener Edstrom Worldwide)
Crisis and Issues Management
Merit
SCDF’s Information and Media Management
(Singapore Civil Defence Force)
Merit
Republic Polytechnic’s A(H1N1) Crisis Communication
(Republic Polytechnic)
Events/Conferences
Excellence
Singapore Arts Festival 2009
(Burson-Marsteller (S.E.A) Pte Ltd)
Merit
F1 Rocks Singapore with LG
(Communications DNA Pte Ltd)
Integrated Marketing Communications
Merit
Halloween at Night Safari
(Citigate Dewe Rogerson, i.MAGE)
Digital Media
Merit
Oracle Corporation Asia-Pacific
(Oracle Corporation Asia-Pacific)
Outstanding PR Professional
Andrew Thomas
(Managing Director, Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide)
Oustanding Young PR Professional
Shashin Surti
(Consultant, Weber Shandwick)
Lifetime PR Achievement Award
Krishnasamy Bhavani
(Director, Public Communications Division, Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts)
Outstanding PR Mentor
Christina Cheang
(Regional Managing Director, South East Asia, GolinHarris)
Outstanding PR Champion
Bruce Poh Geok Huat
(Director and Chief Executive Officer, Institute of Technical Education)
Special Awards
PR Consultancy of the Year – Singapore
Fulford Public Relations
Overall Outstanding PR Consultancy
Weber Shandwick
Sarah Myers
Account Manager
Media Monitors
Based in Singapore, Sarah follows media trends from Asia and abroad. Follow her on Twitter @sarahbmyers.