PHOTOS: PRNigeria ladies bag double 2023 SABRE African PR Awards in Zambia

By Baba Aminu

Female staff 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 Certificate of Excellence for Employee Communication and West-African Categories of the awards with a gender inclusivity campaign titled “Nigerian Ladies in PR”

The campaign demonstrated how female interns and staff in the organisation were trained and tasked with advocacies that promote inter-ethnic relations, national unity, good governance, and gender equality.

With support from the MacArthur Foundation and Kogi State Government, the campaign involved public speaking, press releases, article writing, social media engagement, and book publishing.

Similarly, the Department of State Security Service (DSS) and the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) also bagged Certificates of Excellence for their campaigns that were also carried out by Image Merchants Promotion Limited.

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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.

The NITDA campaign was recognised under Public Affairs/Government Relations Category for deploying mainstream and social media, as a tech regulatory agency in countering misconceptions by educating the public on the benefits of its Code of Practice for Social Media and Online Platforms.

The 2023 Africa SABRE Awards were evaluated by a jury of industry leaders who considered campaigns that demonstrate the highest levels of creativity, integrity, and effectiveness.

Speaking on the awards, the Chairman of the jury, Paul Holmes, said agencies and clients from Africa performed extraordinarily well in the SABRE competition.

He said:” The quality of work from across the continent 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.”

Speaking on the awards, Mr Yushau A. Shuaib of IMPR expressed excitement about the feat of the young Nigerian female communicators in proving their mettle in the field of Public Relations.

“While we acknowledge the contributions of our clients for believing in us, we wish to remain the most gender-friendly communication outfit that promotes excellence in service delivery,” Shuaib added.

Nigerian delegates at the African PR Conference celebrated the PRNigeria ladies for making the country proud.

Some of the delegates include Prof. Boniface A, Obiefuna of the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (NIPR); Brig General Tukur Gusau, Director Defence Information; Dr. Omoniyi Ibietan, Head Media Relations Nigeria Communication Commission (NCC); Mal. Umar Mohammed, Head of Corporate Communication Petroleum Products Marketing Company Limited (PPMC) and Alhaji Lamara Garba of Bayero University Kano among others.

Apart from Abuja-based Image Merchants Promotion Limited based, other PR firms from Nigeria, mostly Lagos-based also won various categories of the SABRE awards. They include CMC Connect, Chain Reactions Africa, LSF PR, Integrated Indigo Limited, Chenist Communications and BHM.

Leading PR firms mostly from South and East Africa also bagged multiple awards. They include APO Group, BCW, Hill+Knowlton East Africa Limited; Razor PR/M&C Saatchi Group, Ogilvy South Africa, P&L Consulting Limited, Edelman Africa, MSL, WE Communications and Retroviral PR of South-Africa.

The winning organisations and brands whose campaigns were promoted by PR firms in Africa include Lagos State Government, Ford South Africa, Mastercard Foundation, Jack Ma Foundation, Kenya Airways, NISSAN, Hollard Insurance Ghana

Others include Vodacom, MTN, Airtel, 9Mobile, IBM, Microsoft, HP, Canon, Multichoice, Johnnie Walker, Warner Brothers and BetKing Nigeria, Honeywell Group Limited, Nestle, Floor Mill Nigeria, Shoprite, KFC, Nigerian Breweries, Kenya Breweries, East African Breweries, Coca Cola and Phoenix Beverage.