PRNigeria staff win African PR Awards in Zambia

Female employees of Image Merchants Promotion Limited (IMPR), the publisher of PRNigeria and Economic Confidential, have bagged double SABRE African Public Relations Awards 2023 in Lusaka, Zambia.

The award, which recognises Superior Achievement in Branding Reputation and Engagement (SABRE) and hosted by PRovoke Media, was held on the sideline of the annual Conference of the African Public Relations Association (APRA).

The female communicators won a trophy and a certificate of excellence for Employee Communication and West African categories with a gender inclusivity campaign titled “Nigerian Ladies in PR”

Supported by the MacArthur Foundation and Kogi state government, the campaign involved public speaking, press releases, article writing, social media engagement and book publishing.

The Department of State Security Service (DSS) and the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) also bagged certificates of excellence for their campaigns also handled by IMPR.

The DSS campaign was recognised under the Public Sector/Government category for tackling lingering fuel scarcity that threatened the Ember Months through stakeholder engagement and effective communication.

That of NITDA was recognised under the public affairs/government relations category for deploying mainstream and social media to counter misconceptions by educating the public on the benefits of its Code of Practice for Social Media and Online Platforms.

Chairman of the Awards Jury, Paul Holmes, said agencies across Africa performed extraordinarily well in the competition, stressing that the quality of work has never been higher.

“Robust data and smart cultural insights are informing the planning process, big bold creative ideas are driving the execution, and real business-related metrics are showing how successful these campaigns are,” he added.

IMPR Founder Yushau Shuaib, who expressed excitement about the feat of his staff, thanked clients/partners, promising that the firm would “remain the most gender-friendly communication outfit that promotes excellence in service delivery”.

The PRNigeria ladies received accolades from Nigerian delegates at the conference. In attendance were Prof. Boniface Obiefuna of the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (NIPR); Omoniyi Ibietan, head of media relations, Nigeria Communication Commission (NCC).

Others were Tukur Gusau, Director Defence Information (DDI); Umar Mohammed, head of corporate communication, Petroleum Products Marketing Company Limited (PPMC); Lamaran Garba of Bayero University Kano (BUK), etc.