The Public Relations Institute of New Zealand have announced the Chief Judges for the 2025 PRINZ Awards.
The annual PRINZ Awards, scheduled to be in late May 2025, recognise excellence and showcase the outstanding work achieved by public relations and communications management professionals in New Zealand.
Entries are judged by selected senior PR and communications industry professionals from overseas and across Aotearoa New Zealand and led by two Chief Judges, both PRINZ Fellows.
This year, Nikki Wright joins as co-chief judge alongside existing chief judge and experience communicator Andrew Pirie, who has a track record leading both in-house communications functions and international PR agencies.
Wright steps into the role after her predecessor, Denise Mackay became the PRINZ Chair.
Wright is the Managing Director at Wright Communications, with over 25 years of diverse experience in public relations, spearheading an award-winning agency in Auckland that has been recognised as PRINZ Agency of the Year three times.
With a keen focus on sustainability and ESG, crisis communications, and reputation management she has recently attained chartered directorship status. She is also a co-founder of the Corporate Reputation Index with Kantar, and champions responsible business practices.
Wright says, “It is an honour to be selected as co-chief judge for the 2025 PRINZ awards alongside Andrew Pirie, an esteemed industry leader. I’m excited to see the innovative and resilient work that practitioners have delivered over the past year, particularly given the challenging economic environment we’ve all navigated.”
The chief judges oversee the evaluation process for the awards, ensuring that entries are assessed with the highest standards of integrity and professionalism.
Entries for the 2025 PRINZ Awards will open on 13 January 2025, and close on 28 February 2025.
Categories include Crisis or Reputation Management, Internal Communications and Most Innovative Campaign. PRINZ will also recognise a Young Practitioner of the Year and PR Team of the Year.
