ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA
PRWeek Corporate Affairs Awards 2024
The PRWeek Corporate Affairs Awards are an opportunity to showcase and celebrate the best campaigns, projects, agencies, in-house teams and individuals across sectors covering corporate, city, pharma, public affairs and beyond.
The new scheme combines PRWeek's Corporate, City and Public Affairs Awards and PRWeek's Healthcare & Pharma Comms Awards. It's a fantastic opportunity for the best agencies, in-house teams and individuals in their fields to be recognised by their peers.
Enter by our standard deadline on 21 December 2023!
Make sure you download our handy Entry Kit to get all your information on entering including categories, criteria, and more!
A note from the editor

"PRWeek is proud to launch a brand new awards scheme for 2024: the Corporate Affairs Awards.
The awards will honour outstanding achievements across key areas including corporate and financial comms, public affairs, pharma and healthcare PR, and more. They reflect the growing importance of corporate affairs within businesses and the multitude of disciplines and specialisms that sit under the remit of the modern in-house corporate affairs or communications director."
John Harrington, Editor, PRWeek
Key Information
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Why enter?
Categories
Campaign categories
Best pharmaceutical and/or healthcare product launch
Recognises the most effective launch of a
pharmaceutical product, including both over-the-counter and prescription-only drugs and/or
a healthcare product, such as products linked to
improving health, including vitamin products and
products designed to tackle, for example, obesity,
cigarette or alcohol addiction, or mental ill-health. It
can include communications with target audiences
such as primary care departments, prescribers,
NHS budget holders, patient groups and specialist
media as well as disease awareness and direct to
consumer work.
Best public health awareness campaign
Recognises the best campaign to manage or
promote awareness of a particular disease or
condition. It can be aimed at the wider general
public or at a more specific, targeted group.
Best pro-active lobbying campaign on an issue or cause
Recognises the best pro-active lobbying campaign
with a specific public affairs objective related to
a cause or an issue; eg: introducing a new law or
policy.
Best handling of an IPO
Recognises the best handling of a company’s
stock market flotation from a communications
perspective. The winning entry will need to show
the steps it took to implement an effective comms
strategy around the IPO, including how it worked
with other parties (eg: investors, employees and
other stakeholders) and dealt with challenges along
the way, including possible negative publicity. It
would be a benefit if the entry can show how the
comms strategy benefited the client’s reputation.
Best corporate internal comms or employee engagement campaign
Recognises the most effective campaign for a
corporation that engages internal stakeholders such
as managers, employees, and trade unions. Judges
will be looking for clear outlines of the campaign’s
specific objectives and the steps taken to meet
them, alongside the results of the campaign,
preferably supported with data (eg: employee
satisfaction levels, staff retention etc).
Best crisis or issues management
Recognises the most effective management of an
issue or crisis by a consultancy or corporate in-house team, or a combination of both. Because of
the sensitive nature of this type of work, entrants
may mark parts of their submission as strictly
confidential and not for publication.
Best use of media relations
- For corporate and/or financial comms
- For pharma and/or healthcare comms
Best use of social media and/or influencers
- For corporate and/or financial comms
- For pharma and/or healthcare comms
Recognises the best use of social media or social
media ‘influencers’ as part of a campaign by, or
on behalf of, a corporation. Judges will be looking
for evidence of how social media and/or influencer
activity helped achieve specific goals, eg: changing
public sentiment towards a company, selling more
products, supporting a specific cause or changing
public behaviour. Entrants can show how social
media and/or influencer activity was used part of a
wider campaign that could include other elements,
such as lobbying or advertising; however, the
winning entry will be able to demonstrate how social
media and/or influencer activity specifically was
crucial to achieve outcomes (rather than merely
social media analytics data). The idea must be PRled, although we will not exclude entries that involve
payment or other incentives to influencers; however,
please detail these in your entry
Best use of content
- For corporate and/or financial comms
- For pharma and/or healthcare comms
This award will be given for the most effective use
of content as part of a campaign. The entry can
come from the private, public or third sectors,
or a combination. The objectives, strategy and
method deployed should be clearly set out,
alongside metrics on the impact of the content.
The entry should include methods of how content
was distributed and used to attract and retain
audiences. Judges will be looking at the impact of
the content beyond ‘reach’ (eg: number of views,
likes etc) and towards outcomes (eg: changing
behaviour, increasing sales).
Best handling of a de/merger or acquisition deal
Recognises the best handling of a de/merger
or acquisition deal from a communications
perspective. The winning entry will need to show
the steps it took to implement an effective comms
strategy around the deal, including how it worked
with other parties (eg: investors, employees and
other stakeholders) and dealt with challenges along
the way, including possible negative publicity. It
would be a benefit if the entry can show how the
comms strategy improved the client’s reputation
after the deal.
Agency and Team Categories
Best agency
- For corporate and/or financial comms
- For public affairs
- For pharma and/or healthcare comms
This category is open to any consultancy that offers one of the services outlined below. Judges will be looking for evidence of market share and financial growth at the agency, particularly in relation to the specified work. They will be looking at client list growth and client retention. Please give examples of the most effective work undertaken by the agency in the past 12 months (maximum of five examples), including data to support the impact (eg: change to law or government policy, amount of positive coverage etc).
New consultancy of the year
- For corporate and/or financial comms
- For public affairs
- For pharma and/or healthcare comms
This award is open to any consultancy that has been
trading for up to 24 months. The consultancy must
operate in at least one of the below disciplines.
Judges will be looking for evidence of market share
and financial growth at the agency, particularly in
relation to the specified work. They will be looking
at client list growth and client retention. Please give
examples of the most effective work undertaken by
the agency in the past 12 months (maximum of five
examples), including data to support the impact
(eg: change to law or government policy, amount of
positive coverage etc).
Best integrated agency
This category is open to any consultancy that offers
two or more services and excels at integrated
work covering multiple disciplines “for example:
corporate comms, public affairs, healthcare
comms, digital comms. Judges will be looking for
evidence of market share and financial growth at
the agency, particularly in relation to briefs covering
the disciplines. They will be looking at client list
growth and client retention. Please give examples
of the most effective integrated work undertaken by
the agency in the past 12 months (maximum of five
examples), including data to support the impact (eg:
sales, change to law or government policy, amount
of positive coverage etc).
Best in-house comms team
Open to any in-house comms team. In your entry
please include the number of staff employed
within the team (split executive and support staff)
and annual PR budget (broken down into areas
of marketing activity directly under the team’s
control). The judges will look for evidence of
success in executing campaigns or programmes
during the period covered by the awards as part of
an overall PR strategy, in particular to corporate
communications work. They will also look for
cost-effective use of both in-house and external
resources. Teams will also be commended for their
dedication to diversity. Please outline the proportion
of employees who are women, and who are black/
Asian/or of other minority ethnic backgrounds,
both across the team and in senior leadership
roles. Please also outline any initiatives in place
to encourage under-represented groups, and
information on the team’s flexible working policies
to help staff work part time.
Best in-house public affairs team
Open to any in-house public affairs team. In your
entry please include the number of staff employed
within the team (split executive and support staff)
and annual PR budget (broken down into areas
of marketing activity directly under the team’s
control). The judges will look for evidence of
success in executing campaigns or programmes
during the period covered by the awards as part of
an overall PR strategy, in particular to corporate
communications work. They will also look for
cost-effective use of both in-house and external
resources. Teams will also be commended for their
dedication to diversity. Please outline the proportion
of employees who are women, and who are black/
Asian/or of other minority ethnic backgrounds,
both across the team and in senior leadership
roles. Please also outline any initiatives in place
to encourage under-represented groups, and
information on the team’s flexible working policies
to help staff work part time.
People Categories
Newcomer of the year
- In corporate comms
- In public affairs
- In pharma and/or healthcare
Open to PR professionals who have worked in the
sector for no more than three years. Nominations
are accepted from employers, who should include
the details of the nominee’s career history
and professional qualifications. Along with the
submission, please attach a 200 word statement or
short video from the person nominated, outlining
why they feel they should win this award. Judges will
be looking for: evidence of outstanding achievement
in handling projects and campaigns; creativeness
in relevance to brief and results; influence and
contribution to the organisation and colleagues; and
evidence of the nominee’s ability and willingness to
extend their range of skills and expertise.
Please note: the video does not need to be high
production quality; it can be recorded using your
smartphone. There will not be extra points given
for high production quality videos. This is an
opportunity for the nominee to express themselves
and their personality within the entry.
Professional of the year – Agency
- In corporate comms
- In public affairs
- In pharma and/or healthcare
This award will go to the agency-side professional in
a leadership role who is judged to have achieved the
most in one of the sectors outlined below in the past
12 months. Judges will be looking for evidence of
exceptional client handling, use of innovative ideas
and techniques, successful execution of projects
and/or campaigns, and strong leadership qualities.
Please give examples of the most effective project
work undertaken by the individual over the past 12
months (maximum of five examples), including,
where relevant, data to support the impact (eg:
sales or share price lifts, amount of positive
coverage etc).
Professional of the year – In-house
- In corporate comms
- In public affairs
- In pharma and/or healthcare
This award will go to the in-house professional in
a senior role who is judged to have achieved the
most in one of the sectors outlined below in the past
12 months. Judges will be looking for evidence of
successful execution of projects and/or campaigns,
use of innovative ideas and techniques, and strong
leadership qualities. Please give examples of the
most effective project work undertaken by the
individual over the past 12 months (maximum of
five examples), including, where relevant, data to
support the impact (eg: sales or share price lifts,
amount of positive coverage etc).
2024 Judges
“Corporate Affairs plays such a crucial role these days – protecting and enhancing reputation, creating the policy and business environment for growth, and ensuring that companies and organisations are not only focussed on the ‘inside’, but also what is going on in the outside world. I am delighted to co-chair these awards and am looking forward to celebrating the fantastic and innovative work that has been done over the last year. Best of luck to everyone entering.”
Jenny Hall, Corporate Affairs Director, Royal Mail
"I'm delighted to co-chair the newly launched 2024 Corporate Affairs Awards alongside a very talented panel of Judges.
These Awards demonstrate the increasing importance of an integrated Corporate Affairs agenda in achieving business outcomes and I can’t wait to review all the submissions across multiple categories."
Katy McMillan, Senior Director, Global Corporate Affairs & Sustainability, AstraZeneca
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Nominations to get involved are welcome from across the sectors, either for yourself or a colleague using the link below. The final judging panel will be comprised of an inclusive range of individuals to fully represent the industry.