“PR Impact Awards 2017” Competition Receives a Record Amount of Applications
123 communication projects have been submitted to compete for the Project of the Year title in the international “PR Impact Awards 2017”
The annual event is being organized by the Lithuanian Public Relations Specialists‘ Association and the Lithuanian Association of Public Relations Agencies. As in the previous years, the event, which is going to take place in Vilnius, Lithuania, on May 5th, consists of three parts: an international conference, the presentations of the shortlisted communication projects, and their awards ceremony.
After the applications were closed on Monday night, it was revealed that the Social Responsibility Project category received the largest amount of applications (20). 18 applications were submitted for the Integrated Communications Campaign category and 17 projects were submitted for the Marketing Communications category.
“The considerably increased interest of PR professionals in the “PR Impact Awards 2017” event, allows to stress the importance of the event for the Lithuanian PR market. This year, we have noticed the event has also become interesting to our colleagues from abroad. That is an additional drive for the expansion of our organization’s international relations,” said Lina Jakučionienė, the Chairwoman of the LRVS Board.
Romualda Stonkutė, the Chairwoman of the RSVA Board, said that, compared with the previous year, the doubled amount of applications is an indication of the Lithuanian PR market’s maturity.
“There were many interesting and creative projects implemented over the past year. We regard them as being successful and are using those cases to compete against our colleagues from the Baltics. We are going to get to know the best ideas, the most effective solutions as well as the most creative ways of their implementation at the final of the competition. The presentations of the shortlisted projects are going to be a unique opportunity for everyone to share their experiences and learn from others. I am sure, we are encouraging the whole PR market to grow this way,” thinks R. Stonkutė.
As in the previous years, communications agencies were the most active in presenting their cases: they submitted 89 applications. In the meantime, businesses submitted 21 applications and the public sector institutions as well as NGOs presented 13 cases.
This year’s “PR Impact Awards 2017” competition is unique due to its internationality. For the first time, PR agencies and professionals from the Scandinavian and Baltic countries, as well as Poland, Belarus and Ukraine were invited to take part. The most active were a number of Latvian and Estonian agencies, which submitted 28 applications in total.
The International Jury is going to look into the impact of the PR projects
All the applications are going to be evaluated by an international Jury, which consists of 11 communication experts. According to them, the results of the projects are going to be critical in their evaluation.
“I am going to look at the impact the communication projects have delivered, whether it is its added social value or strengthened business strategy” said Jesper Schou Hansen, the Owner of the Danish PR Agency “SCHOU”.
The importance of the impact of the communication projects has also been stressed by Stavros Papagianneas, the Managing Director of the Belgian PR Consultancy “StP Communications”:
“When evaluating the projects, their results and their compliance with the project’s strategy and objectives are going to be crucial. I am particularly interested in the influence the projects have had on changing the perceptions of their target audiences”.
The shortlisted projects are going to be presented at the “PR Impact Awards 2017” conference, which is going to take place in Vilnius, Lithuania, on May 5. The presentations will be followed by the award ceremony. The communication agency awarded with the most “Best Project of the Year” awards in difference categories is going to be titled “the Agency of the Year”.