[November 23, 2009] Census Campaign Wins Top Publicity Award Tweet Nov 23, 2009 (Business Daily/All Africa Global Media via COMTEX) -- Apex Communications is the overall winner of 2009 PR campaign of the year. It was honoured because of staging a "successful design and implementation" of the 2009 Kenya National Population and Housing Census Communication campaign dubbed, Nipo!, Natambulika! The firm also bagged the best social responsibility campaign for the "Samsung Next Hero Football Campaign" and best public affairs campaign for "Kenya Census 2009". It wrested the title from Gina Din, who won last year and in 2007. "The hallmark of the Excellence Awards lies in the PR Campaign of the Year Award which is weighted and battled out by the entries that emerge winners in their respective PR campaign categories. To clinch this overall title, the winning entry must demonstrate outstanding expertise, strategic thinking, originality and creativity in public relations," said Mr Peter Mutie, the chairman, of the Public Relations Society of Kenya during the Award Gala in Nairobi on Friday. "The most unique aspect about the census campaign was the use of Faith Based Organisations to endorse the exercise nationally and also their willingness to disseminate census information materials through their system and structures," said Mr Lawrence Gikaru, Apex managing director. Another surprise winner was the new comer Hill & Knowlton, bagging two awards for the "Back to Basics" campaign and media relations for the fibre optic company --Seacom. But this year's categories have been revised to recognise specialisation to reflect the level of competitiveness of the services offered by the Kenyan PR agencies. Another dimensional is that only winners would be announced; there would be no second or third places. Only one company entered the Best E-Communicator won by Amref for its website. The awards recognised and showcased the best in the Kenyan PR industry. Safaricom was awarded for the best corporate publication for its magazine Option, best internal relations was won by Telkom Kenya and Best Event Campaign was won by BluePrint. The competition is open to, among others, PR students, enterprises, associations, private institutions, government bodies, PR agencies, and in-house PR departments. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]