NIWA’s use of communications to tell the scientific story of the Hunga Tonga–Hunga Haʻapai volcanic eruption in 2022 has won its communications team the Supreme Award at the PRINZ Awards 2023.
The PRINZ head judges said the NIWA campaign was well-researched, conceived and executed within a very short timeframe with little budget and while managing multiple agencies.
Titled ‘Shotgun Blast from the Deep, the campaign also took out gold in the Best Use of Media Relations, at a gala dinner held on Friday night.
A total of 14 golds and two special awards were awarded from 48 finalists.
Fire and Emergency NZ (FENZ) won four golds for its ‘You’re Cooked- if you’re cooked, stay off the stove’ campaign, across Best use of Digital and Social Media, Experiential and Activation, Marketing Communications and Most innovative, while Mango Communications won two Golds for its campaign to recruit staff for McDonald’s, called ‘McCensus – understanding the crew to attract the new’ as well as a special award, the Isentia and PRINZ Prize for Excellence in Research, Measurement and Evaluation.
In-house PR team of the year went to Auckland Airport and the Sally Logan-Milne Young Practitioner of the Year award was won by Jessica Chaplin of NZ Police.
In a LinkedIn post, Jessica wrote: “It was an honour to be named the 2023 Sally Logan-Milne Young Practitioner of the Year at last night’s PRINZ – Public Relations Institute of New Zealand awards!
“A special massive thank you to Jackie Maher and Nicky Chilton APR. And Morwenna Grills APR for helping me through APR and being more than just a mentor!
“It was a great night being able to celebrate the incredible achievements of all the award winners and my fellow APR graduates – we did it! A special shout out to the Fire and Emergency NZ team for their four gold awards, NIWA for winning the supreme award and Rebecca Kinraid APR for getting the Joseph Peart award for top student of our APR cohort.
“It’s a real privilege to work in this field alongside some of the very best!”
Auckland Airport’s in-house team won for its ability to “punch above its weight in a dynamic post Covid environment that saw it achieve success across the board and the trust of multiple internal and external stakeholders”, the judges said.
A total of 113 entries – an over 30% increase on 2022 – were received across 18 categories this year, and a team of 50 judges from across the profession selected the final 48. A full list of gold, silver and bronze winners is available here.
