Last night, New Zealand’s PR practitioners gathered in Wellington to celebrate the best in the business at the 2019 PRINZ Awards and it was the Civil Aviation Authority of New Zealand that was took home the Supreme Award.
The Supreme Award was given to the ‘Fly your drone – using wit to regulate unwitting pilots’ campaign, that took complex aviation rules and turned them into animated videos to highlight drone safety. The campaign also won the Public Sector Public Relations award category.
Judges said it was a bold move to simplify the explanation of such complex rules.
Chief judge Kate Woodruffe said that the campaign demonstrated how PR professionals are well-equipped to help organisations respond positively to digital disruption and change.
“This campaign clearly took the client well outside their comfort zone, and the results to-date are impressive. It also demonstrated how successful PR strategies often begin by persuading the client to do things differently to achieve a different outcome.”
This year PRINZ also introduced a PR In-house team of the Year category to recognise professionalism, culture and contribution to organisational success by an in-house team. In the category, SPCA was named the winner while WorkSafe New Zealand achieved a highly commended.
Winners of the PR Consultancy of the Year categories were also announced last night. Great Scott in Christchurch won the small to medium category while Campbell Squared Communications in Tauranga, won the medium to large category for the third year in a row.
The Sally Logan-Milne Young Practitioner of the Year went to Spark New Zealand’s Cassie Arauzo.
Also announced on the night were two Life membership recipients Lisa Finucane and Fiona Cassidy.
The award recognises the significant service of Finucane and Cassidy to PRINZ over a long period.
Four new fellows were also inducted into PRINZ, including Adelle Keely of Acumen Republic, Sarah Fraser of National Institute for Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA), Sarah Williams of Porter Novelli, and Simon Roche of High Performance Sport New Zealand.
PRINZ Fellows demonstrate a high degree of competence in the practice of public relations and are nominated based on their significant contribution to the enhancement of the public relations profession.
All winners of the PRINZ Awards can be seen here.
