Middle East Public Relations Association launches region's first independent PR awards

The 15 awards - ten areas of best practice as well as three individual awards and two best in class - recognise outstanding group and individual achievement in communications.

Dave Robinson, MEPRA's chair for 2009, commented:

"This has been a critical year for PR in the region - with companies and governments alike certainly appreciating the value and importance of communicating with their publics. We are confident that the work celebrated in these awards will stimulate and excite both the PR profession and the business community with the scope and potential of communications."

A 'Call for Entries' has been circulated to the PR community seeking submissions with a deadline of October 8th. Judging by an independent panel takes place in October with winners announced at a ceremony on November 24th.

"Being recognised by one's peers for outstanding work has immense importance for any professional, increasing motivation and pride in what they do," said Rebecca Hill, MEPRA's executive director. "We hope that the MEPRA Awards will stimulate further interest in the profession, highlight the diversity of PR offerings available for students and create solidarity among PR practitioners in agencies and in-house."

The ten 'Best Practice' categories highlight the depth and range of PR - Best Multi-disciplinary campaign including new media; Best CSR / Community / Special Interest campaign; Best Research Led campaign; Best Government Stakeholder communications; Best Employee Engagement; Best Corporate Image / Reputation campaign; Best Consumer Relations campaign; Best Financial and Investor Relations campaign; Best B 2 B campaign; and Best Regional campaign.

The Individual awards which are open to nominations are: Outstanding Young Professional of the Year (anyone under the age of 30 as of 31 July 2009); Communicator of the Year; and Life Achievement Award.

The two 'Best in Class' awards will be made to winners of the best practice category awards - best PR campaign by an agency and best PR campaign by an in-house team.

The MEPRA awards are being supported by leading companies operating in the PR space, notably MediaWatch Middle East (media monitoring) and Salience (market research), both subsidiaries of News Group International and PRJS which is the only specialist international PR and marketing recruitment firm with an office in the UAE.