University of Limerick’s Marketing and Communications team has earned two International Business Awards, also known as Stevie Awards, it was announced on Thursday.
UL was the outright winner in the Communications or PR Campaign of the Year – Global Issues category and will be presented with a Gold Stevie® Award at the14th Annual International Business Awards in Barcelona in October. The university marketing and communications division also won a Silver Stevie® Award in the Communications or PR Campaign of the Year - Low Budget (Under $10,000 / € 7,000) category.
Judges described the public relations campaign, Meet the Mesentery, The Organ Hiding in Plain Sight, led by UL’s Communications Officer Nicola Corless, as “an excellent showcase of PR skills and story-telling ability”.
The campaign, highlighted the research of Professor Calvin Coffey, Professor of Surgery at UL’s Graduate Entry Medical School and Consultant Surgeon at UL Hospitals Group, to a worldwide audience of tens of millions of people. The campaign resulted in more than 2,000 stories published and broadcast in some of the world’s best-known news outlets including the BBC, Financial Times, The Washington Post, CNN, CBS News and Fox News.
“I’m delighted to see UL honoured by the International Business Awards with two Communications and PR Campaign of the Year awards. It is great to see the excellent work of our Communications Officer Nicola Corless and our small but dedicated in-house communications team recognized on a global stage. These two international awards are a very welcome endorsement of the new strategic approach to marketing and communicating at UL,” said Mark Mulqueen, Director of Marketing and Communications at UL.
According to Jacqueline Purcell, IBA judge and International Public Relations Association (IPRA) Board Member: “Meet the mesentery, the organ hiding in plain sight is an astonishing story of what perseverance can do. University of Limerick, Ireland, is an energetic and enterprising institution with a record of innovation and excellence in education, research and scholarship. The dynamic, entrepreneurial and pioneering values which drive UL's mission and strategy ensures that it capitalises on local, national and international engagement and connectivity and this campaign and evidence back up those claims.
“Both Professor Coffey and Nicola are to be commended on this low budget and high-impact publicity to create a rare story,” Ms Purcell continued.
A record total of more than 3,900 nominations from organizations of all sizes and in virtually every industry were submitted this year for consideration in a wide range of categories, including Company of the Year, Marketing Campaign of the Year, Best New Product or Service of the Year, Startup of the Year, Corporate Social Responsibility Program of the Year, and Executive of the Year, among others.
Nicknamed the Stevies for the Greek word for “crowned,” the awards will be presented to winners at a gala awards banquet at the W Hotel in Barcelona, Spain on 21 October. Award winners were determined by the average scores of more than 200 executives worldwide who participated on 12 juries.
“The IBA judges from across the world were highly impressed with the nominations they reviewed this year. With the level of achievement documented in the nominations from 60 nations, the Stevie Awards are proud to honor organizations that demonstrate a high level of achievement in a variety of industries” said Michael Gallagher, president and founder of the Stevie Awards.
“We look forward to sharing many of these stories with people around the world over the coming months, through the Stevie Awards blog and social media channels, with the hope to inspire others to high achievement.”
The International Business Awards are the world’s premier business awards program. All individuals and organizations worldwide – public and private, for-profit and non-profit, large and small - are eligible to submit nominations. The 2017 IBAs received entries from more than 60 nations and territories.
This is the second time Nicola’s work has been recognised this year. In June, she was highly commended in the Excellence in Public Relations 2017 Awards, run by the Public Relations Institute of Ireland and the Public Relations Consultants Association.
Details about The International Business Awards and the lists of Stevie Award winners are available at www.StevieAwards.com/IBA.