IABC Africa Gold Quill winners

“We were extremely impressed by the level of entries that we received and were hard-pressed to judge the winners according to our stringent criteria of effective communication programmes,” said Susan Beaumont, chair of the IABC Africa Region.

The awards aim to recognise excellence in business communication at both individual and company level. Double winners were Magna Carta and Development Communication Solutions, who won two awards each.

Mari Lee from Development Communication Solutions won for her child welfare and social brand transformation strategies, which were implemented for Devcom and the To Care Foundation respectively.

Amber Barnes of Magna Carta, voted the country's top large PR agency for the second year running by Finweek, walked away with an award for the ‘Get a Grip' campus activation campaign executed for Standard Bank. Keli Walker Smith, also of Magna Carta, was honoured for the Team Barloworld Tour de France 2007 campaign.

Dr Barbara Jensen from the Gauteng Provincial Government won two awards for her successful media relations and multi-audience communications strategies for the Gautrain Rapid Rail Link and Prof Peter Collins from Corporate Image Holdings won for his National Responsible Gambling Programme.

Other winners were:

• Kerri Savin from Purpleberry
  
• Celia Bayley from Sappi Limited
  
• Sophia Dower of Words'worth, who has won several International Gold Quill Awards.