>> UNAWARDS 2024 - THE WINNERS
The winners and highly commended entries for 2024, from a record-breaking 593 entries. Well done everyone.
1. Best crisis comms
Joint Winners
Liverpool City Council communications team – Liverpool riots, Spellow hub arson response
“A fantastic example of effective communications in a crisis with consideration to ST/MT and LT implications. The submission was well set out and having led a number of communication responses in a crisis situation – I could feel the energy and emotion through the submission of all the team would have been faced with at the time.”
Staffordshire County Council – Highways communications team, Fixing more roads in Staffordshire
“Pleasing to see the passion that was invested in an ‘everyday’ problem for councils up and down the country. Well done!”
Highly commended
HMRC Digital Communications - Myth busting online sales
London Borough of Barnet - 7th October Attacks, turning a crisis into a strategic partnership
Staffordshire County Council – Sustainability Dreamhouse
2. Best creative comms
Winner
Staffordshire County Council - Little Heroes
“This entry excelled in creative comms by developing Pixar-like characters and a multipronged approach to support KS1 and KS2 children with stress and anxiety. With SMART objectives and a fabulous workbook addressing anxiety and attendance issues, it surpassed targets, achieving a 3% attendance increase. Its success, reflected in a demand-driven budget boost, meant the tools and resources reached 80% of Staffordshire schools. Well done!”
Highly commended
Wigan Council Fettlers - People Make Wigan place narrative
South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue Kitchen Nightmares
3. Best ethical comms behaviour/diversity
Winner
Tower Hamlets Council
“An impactful campaign based on meaningful insight. The team have created authentic content based on clear objectives to reach their target audience. This campaign has the potential to support real change in democracy and community engagement, creating a more diverse public service offering for Tower Hamlets and its residents.”
Highly commended
Leicestershire Fire and Rescue
4. Best young communicator
Winner
Hannah Marshall, Tower Hamlets Council
“Hannah’s impressive work stands out and she absolutely has a bright future ahead of her”
Highly commended
Lauren Tye, Telford & Wrekin Council
5. Best use of email
Winner
Surrey County Council Communications team Surrey County Council Newsletter Strategy
“Surrey’s use of email stands out from the other entrants both in terms of its ambition and achievement. Others focussed on a single email or campaign, whereas Surrey’s entry represented a unified strategy for email based on customer feedback. Giving customers information that they’ve asked for seems a simple concept, but the effectiveness of this approach is borne out in the numbers. 979% increase in subscribers. Click-through rates higher than many achieve as an open rate.”
Highly commended
London Borough of Richmond upon Thames Richmond Moves for a Healthier Borough
Poplar HARCA, Anna Peneva
6. Best use of evaluation/research
Winner
Hertfordshire County Council - Ukraine Sunflower Campaign
“This was a campaign that used insight, data and measurement to deliver high impact and change people’s lives. The council was clear about its outcomes – and, in their own words, smashed them.”
Highly commended
Police Scotland – Online Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitation prevention campaign
7. Best low cost/free comms
Winner
Sheffield Children’s NHS Foundation Trust – Romani video appointment reminders
“An entry the judges just couldn’t ignore. A striking determination to confront a really challenging issue. The team engaged a difficult-to-reach group, listened closely and created a tailored comms approach that is already showing impact and results.”
Highly commended
Derian House Children’s Hospice – Say My Child’s Name
Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) – Help Gran Stop Spam
8. Best use of video
Winner
West Midlands Combined Authority - West Midlands mayoral election campaign and live stream
“A great example of what a modern video campaign looks like. Lots of different formats reflecting the diversity of the audience - and all executed brilliantly, with humour and flair. A team that have clearly embraced the conventions of different video media from the traditional documentary style to animation, to live-stream, to TikTok. A truly integrated approach to video which has delivered great results.”
Highly commended
Dravet Syndrome UK - Little Moment Matter
Police Scotland - Online Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitation prevention campaign
9. Best social media account
Joint Winners
Manchester City Council Engaging Manchester - A Social Revolution
“Clear strategy based on evidence. Well executed and delivered with good use of metrics to help assess what is working. Lots of really nice creative. I’d like to see the objectives more clearly stated and linked to organisational goals and that would help in showing impact.”
Staffordshire County Council - Staffordshire County Council Social Media Accounts
“Great to see clear objectives linked to purpose. Strategy was a bit woolly but the tactical execution, metrics and evaluation were good and there was lots of good creative. Really good work from a small team.”
Highly commended
Berkshire Healthcare NHS Trust - Tik Tok
Cambridge University Hospitals CUH social media chatbot
10. Best comms/digital professional
Winner
Helena Hornby, Staffordshire County Council
“Love this entry. Could Helena do any more? A top class, profession leading individual. A well-deserved winner in an extremely tough field.”
Highly commended
Caroline Taylor, Derian House
Kirsty Tobin, London Borough of Kensington and Chelsea
Stuart Robinson, Leeds City Council
11. Best small team
Winner
Nottinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service Corporate Comms Team
“An outstanding, small but mighty Communications team which punches well above its weight, providing an outstanding service to the organisation and the residents of Nottinghamshire. Great creative, focused and committed work.”
12. Best internal comms
Winner
London Borough of Havering - The Havering Characters
“A runaway winner! Strategic and creative approach to communicating basic but important messages, with impressive outcomes. Careful planning, perfect execution, a touch of humour and bags of personality.”
Highly commended
Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust - Love research
13. Best work by an agency
Winner
Jon Gill Playful Communications - "A Good Thing To Do: Andrew Crummy's Cancer Tapestry"
“Powerful connections of people in real life - a moving piece of work that is having impacts on people, powerful storytelling, emotive, simple, effective.”
Highly commended
Georgia Turner Communications and Trueman Change with Participation People for Leicestershire County Council
14. Best collaboration
Winner
Police Scotland - Online Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitation prevention campaign
“A phenomenal example of collaboration to achieve measurable interventions to protect Children in Scotland. Brilliant to see a campaign not shy away from focussing on the perpetrator behaviours (rather than victim safety) and deliver meaningful outcomes at scale. Brilliantly designed and executed from the insight phase through to the evaluation. (The submission was also brilliant) Congratulations.”
Highly commended
East Midlands Combined County Authority East Midlands Mayoral Election Campaign
London Borough of Richmond upon Thames Full of Life
LGcomms Exec Comms Academy 2024
15. Best social media campaign
Winner
Cambridge University Hospitals - CUH Social Media Chatbot
“We really loved how the team thought about things a little differently and looked to technology to help them solve the challenges they faced. The deflection rates that they saw off the back of introducing the new tech were amazing and at a time when healthcare organisations are really up against it, and being squeezed on time and resources, we're sure the time savings they saw as a result were invaluable for the team.”
16. Supporting health and wellbeing in communications
Winner
Central Bedfordshire Council - Is Everything OK?
“Great to see strong campaign branding and well-informed creative, super-relevant to the target audience - nicely done!”
Highly commended
Bristol City Council - Cycle September
17. Best use of data
Winner
Office of the Public Guardian - Your Voice, Your Decision
“A standout winner. With a tricky brief, they made excellent use of data to understand the audience and the problem, to inform the strategy and tactics. We loved the use of A/B testing and were impressed with the quality of data gathered and analysed to inform the conclusions.”
Highly commended
London Borough of Barnet - Money Worries
18. BEST Behaviour change
Winner
Staffordshire County Council - Welcome to Little Heroes
“A great initiative to improve children’s attendance at school – creative, fun and delivered on its very clear objectives in a meaningful way with impressive results. The super hero idea was a powerful one and to have children chanting the campaign slogan as they go into school – what more could you want!”
Highly commended
Police Scotland - Online Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitation prevention campaign
Public vote categories
19. Post of the year
Winner
Jude Tipper
'Flip it and reverse it: How being negative can identify what matters'
2nd place
Louisa Dean
‘Elections – a 7-point comms checklist to guide your approach’
3rd place
Andreas Christophorou
‘From ‘no go’ to ‘go to’ in 24 hours – How Tower Hamlets embraced a media storm’
20. Team of the year
Joint Winners
West Mercia Police corporate communications team
Derbyshire Constabulary communications team
3rd place
Bedfordshire Police communications team
21. Lifetime achievement
Winner
Kate Viles, Derbyshire Constabulary
>> UNAWARDS 2023 - THE WINNERS
Our winners, highly commended and shortlisted entries for 2023 from a record-breaking 450 entries. Well done everyone.
1. Best ethical comms behaviour/diversity
Winner
Brent Council
“Highly creative and multi-faceted campaign based on deep audience insight with a focus on engaging seldom heard voices. Collaboration and co creation built strong relationships that provided the grounding for the success of this climate change campaign and, no doubt, the success of future service delivery.”
Runner up
Companies House (The Power of We)
Shortlist
Affinity Trust
Companies House
Brent Council
Islington Council
Greater Manchester Cancer Alliance
2. Best social media account
Winner
Manchester City Council social media accounts
“Very through insight work, good objectives although could be smarter, good tactics and tracking throughout. Good to see a really through EDI approach.”
Highly commended
Sandwell and West Birmingham NHS Trust TikTok
Shortlisted
Colchester Council Facebook
Sandwell and West Birmingham NHS Trust
North West Ambulance Facebook
Manchester City Council
Derbyshire Constabulary Tik Tok
Met Office TikTok
3. Best crisis comms
Winner
Staffordshire County Council
“Fantastic use of SMART objectives, data gathering through speaking with the target audience. Wonderful evaluation and a creative way to approach the subject of climate change – not an easy topic to control the narrative on as councils”
“Brilliant creative concept and some clear KPIs. The carbon bubble idea and the tour concept is just inspired. I also really like the buzz they created around the concept, raising awareness and lots of positive comments. Importantly, they have listened to what their residents have said and responded accordingly, which pretty much guaranteed them good hits, and excellent partnership working”
Shortlisted
Transport for Wales
Dorset Council/Dorset Local Resilience Forum
Essex Fire and Rescue Service
Staffordshire county Council
Brent Council
4. Best small team
Winner – Bannau Brycheiniog National Park Authority
"This small team managed a very high profile - and culturally significant event - with confidence, creativity and strategic vision. Congratulations on harnessing the media attention around the renaming of the national park and making this important event for Wales a standout success."
Highly Commended – South Yorkshire Pensions Authority
Shortlisted
North London Waste Authority
We are Staffordshire
Royal Free Charity
Bannau Brycheiniog National Park Authority
South Yorkshire Pensions Authority
5. Best use of video
Winner
Bannau Brycheiniog National Park Authority
“Really outstanding. Not every public sector comms team has access to a Hollywood A-Lister! But still amazing tenacity to secure them for it. Brilliantly shot, really confident, punchy narrative that was entertaining, inspiring, hard-hitting, and emotive. More public sector comms should have this confidence in its convictions, and the bravery to stand up to confected media backlash. It brilliantly paints the picture of a better future within reach, which I think we could all do with right now”
Highly commended
Rachel Brown, CAN Digital and 62 local authorities
Shortlisted
United Welsh
Liverpool City Council
Rachel Brown, CAN Digital and 62 local authorities
Bannau Brycheiniog National Park Authority
Greater Manchester Combined Authority
6. Best young communicator
Winner
Edward Parker Humphreys, Lewisham Council
“An impressive understanding of insight, strategy and political acumen has helped Edward deliver an award winning campaign which has led to tangible results”
Highly commended
Carmen Proctor, Staffordshire County Council
Shortlisted
Edward Parker Humphreys, Lewisham Council
Carmen Proctor, Staffordshire County Council
Poppy Matthews, Cheltenham Borough Council & Cheltenham Borough Homes
Lauren Hunt, Staffordshire County Council
Ellie Caddick, Greater Manchester Combined Authority
7. Best use of research and evaluation
Winner
Companies House
“Really clear objectives, research, evaluation and tangible outcomes all achieved on a modest budget. The results speak for themselves and demonstrate just how successful and highly effective the campaign has been. Most importantly, it has encouraged the previously hard to reach audience to apply for roles at Companies House. Brilliant”
Highly commended
NHS England
Shortlisted
Oxfordshire County Council
NHS England
Achieving for Children - Alive with Ideas
Companies House
Herefordshire and Worcestershire Health and Care NHS Trust, Marketing and Communications Team
8. Best work by an agency/freelancer
Winner
Magpie for Hertfordshire CC clean air campaign
“A packed-full-of-great-practice campaign delivered in partnership to challenging deadlines on a subject that is at risk of message fatigue. This campaign used behavioural science throughout to bring relevance and resonance to great effect with brilliant targeting throughout”
“Text book behaviour change campaign – well executed”
Highly commended
Alive with Ideas for Achieving for Children
Grey Fox for NHS NW London Health and Social Care Academy
Shortlisted
Alive with Ideas for Affinity Trust brand creation
Hitch and EY3 for Greater Manchester Combined Authority
Grey Fox for NHS NW London Health and Social Care Academy
Magpie for Hertfordshire CC clean air campaign
Alive with Ideas for Achieving for Children
9. Best use of data
Winner
Buckinghamshire Council - Helping Hand for the Cost of Living
“Shelley has delivered a hugely impressive and efficient campaign, making full use of internal and external and in-house expertise. What really impresses is the way she personally embraced the power of data to deliver real-world results in an efficient way. Shelley has used data in a highly creative and innovative way, delivering a tangible benefit for some of Buckinghamshire’s most vulnerable residents”
Highly commended
Essex Fire and Rescue Service - Using data to increase volunteer applications
Shortlisted
Wigan Council PR Team - Here for You
Essex Fire and Rescue Service - Using data to increase volunteer applications
Buckinghamshire Council - Helping Hand for the Cost of Living
Greater Manchester Combined Authority - Helping Hands campaign
Hertfordshire County Council - Keep us Together, fostering siblings campaign
10. Best low cost/free comms
Joint Winners
The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre
“Great use of media relations to sell a complex but important story with impressive results”
and
Wakefield Council
“Wow, what a fabulous campaign. It had clear objectives and a strong plan which meant it hit all of the targets and then some. It was engaging and creative and a lovely idea. I was really pleased to see the link to wider objectives and the resilience and problem solving following the tree damage”
Highly commended
Liverpool City Council
Shortlisted
The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre
Wakefield Council
Liverpool City Council
Police Scotland
Rachel Brown, CAN Digital and 62 local authorities
11. Supporting health and wellbeing in communications
Winner
London Borough of Lewisham - Warm Welcomes: Community Living Rooms
Shortlisted
Hertfordshire County Council - Here for you this winter
London Borough of Lewisham - Warm Welcomes: Community Living Rooms
Greater Manchester Combined Authority/Hitch Marketing/EY3 Media - Violence Reduction Campaign - #IsThisOk?
Kensington and Chelsea Council, Westminster City Council, Young K&C - We got U, U Got this - Youth Mental Health Signposting
Sandwell and West Birmingham NHS Comms Team - The clock is ticking
12. Best internal comms
Winner
Hertfordshire County Council - Steps to a Cleaner, Greener, Healthier Team Walking Challenge
“This campaign is an excellent example of how a simple and affordable idea can bring employees together, support a common goal, and help with broader sustainability efforts. All round, a deserving winner”
Highly commended
Buckinghamshire Council - Financial Wellbeing internal comms campaign
Shortlisted
Buckinghamshire Council - Financial Wellbeing - internal Comms Campaign
Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust - Cost of Living Support for Staff
Corporate Communications team at Bosch UK - Bosch ‘125 Acts of Kindness’
The Royal College of Physicians: Spark - the intranet that brings people together
Hertfordshire County Council - Steps to a Cleaner, Greener, Healthier Team Walking Challenge
13. Best social media campaign
Winner
London Borough of Tower Hamlets - #TowerHamletsMoments
“We absolutely loved the clear social media focus and were really impressed with the amazing results achieved so far despite having little to no budget behind the campaign. We thought that this was a great lesson in how to embrace your community and what it has to offer, and how to instil pride in your local area while educating the general public in a fun and entertaining way”
Shortlisted
Hertfordshire County Council - Here for you this winter
Manchester City Council - Bringing the Buzz to Social Media
London Borough of Tower Hamlets - #TowerHamletsMoments
Rachel Brown, CAN Digital and 62 local authorities
London Borough of Tower Hamlets - Anti-social Behaviour Awareness Week
14. Best comms pro
Winner
Lauren Hunt – Staffordshire County Council
Shortlist
Polly Fisher - Hertfordshire County Council
Lauren Hunt – Staffordshire County Council
Dom Bowers – Essex Fire and Rescue Service
Scott Grant - Colchester City Council
Andrew Turton – West Midlands Combined Authority
Carrie-Ann Wade – Cat’s Pajamas
15. Best collaboration
Winner
Rachel Brown, CAN Digital and 62 local authorities
“The excellent collaboration between so many councils just goes to show what can be achieved through our industry working together to address common challenges”
Shortlisted
Rachel Brown, CAN Digital and 62 local authorities
We Are Staffordshire - Staffordshire a place to thrive
Tower Hamlets – Cost of living
16. Best use of email
Winner
Basildon Borough Council – Garden Waste Subscription Service launch
“This is an excellent example of using email to achieve a real-world objective. The campaign plan draws cleverly on scientifically proven methods of persuasion, combating negative PR with consensus and scarcity”
Highly commended
Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council – Secondary School Admissions
Surrey County Council - Surrey Matters
Shortlisted
Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council – Secondary School Admissions
North West Ambulance Service - Better Health, Better you
Surrey County Council - Surrey Matters
City of Doncaster Council – Your life
Basildon Borough council – Garden Waste Subscription Service launch
17. Best creative comms
Winner
Rachel Brown, CAN Digital and 62 local authorities
“Exactly the kind of campaign the public sector needs right now. It combined precious resources in order to secure a better chance of success for everyone who collaborated and boosted by smart targeting and a beautifully shot video. Well done everyone”
Highly commended
Staffordshire County Council – Staffordshire’s carbon bubble
Shortlisted
Staffordshire County Council – Staffordshire’s carbon bubble
North London Waste Authority – Together we recycle
Rachel Brown, CAN Digital and 62 local authorities
Tower Hamlets Council – Let’s rethink it
Affinity Trust – Together we make it possible
PUBLIC VOTE
18. Post of the year
Winner
Meg Rowley
‘What being on maternity leave has taught me about work'
Second place
Georgia Turner
'From data-aaaagh📈 to data-aaaah 💡'
Third place
Catherine Farrell
‘The pain of professional ghosting’
19. Best comms team
Winner
Wigan Council PR Team
Second place
Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea Digital Communications Team
Third place
Sandwell and West Birmingham NHS Trust Communications Team
20. Lifetime Achievement UnAward
Winner
Ruby Bhattal, Nottingham City Council
>> UNAWARDS22 WINNERS
1. Best social media account
Highly commended
South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue
Winner
South Wales Police
Judge’s quote
“This account is not only delivering complex messaging in the face of public scrutiny, it is constantly learning and evolving its content to give followers more of what they want to see – whilst also ensuring they are still delivering their content priorities and achieving its mission.
For a public sector channel to have gained more than 185,000 followers in just 10 months – all of which is organic growth – and having received more than 2.2 million total likes is an incredible achievement, and is very much deserving of this award.”
2. Best Comms Pro
Highly commended
Ella Hardy
Winner
Louisa Dean
Judge’s quote
“To have led comms for public mourning and the subsequent internment in the home town of arguably the most famous woman in the world, Her late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, is a phenomenal achievement. To have done so whilst holding down two Head of Communication roles for two separate councils, and all the pressures that come with that, makes Louisa nothing short of a super woman!
A huge volume of high-profile work completed in a momentous year, culminating in one of the global events of the decade. It’s very clear the winner is a true communications professional in the grand tradition combining calm, cool and competence to guide teams across two separate organisations through testing times.”
3. Best crisis comms
Highly commended
South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue
London Borough of Tower Hamlets
Winner
Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead
Judge’s quote
“This was a global event that had been planned for over many years. The benefits of the planning were clearly evident. The speed of the response was made possible by this planning. Co-ordinating such a large communication response was a huge challenge but was clearly achieved”
4. Best work by an agency/freelancer
Highly Commended
DigiKind for My Royal Borough
Thread & Fable for Awkward Moments
Winner
Hitch Marketing for Make A Stand Against Violence
Judge’s quote
“I loved everything about this campaign – huge amount of creativity used. Brilliantly executed and excellent insight.”
5. Best social media campaign
Highly Commended
Buckinghamshire Council
Winner
City of London Police
Judge’s quote
“The judging team at Orlo absolutely loved this campaign and for us, it ticked all the boxes! We really liked how the team at the City of London Police researched different age groups to really understand their target audience, personalise the messaging and ensure the campaign was really targeted. And with some fantastic imagery to support the campaign, the results speak for themselves.”
6. Best low cost comms
Highly commended:
Sheffield City Council - Tek It ‘ome
Telford Council – Year of wellbeing
Winner
Durham Constabulary – Look at what you’ve done
Judge’s quote
“A powerful, effective piece of comms work that shows just what can delivered through building relationships and working through challenges. Outstanding work.
A strikingly simple, powerful campaign, which was delivered with professionalism. The results speak for themselves, with a simply huge reach and clear impact. Well done for sticking with the idea when it looked difficult to deliver.”
7. Best small comms team
Highly commended
STEP comms team - Finding a home for the world's first fusion energy power plant
Comms Unplugged
Winner
Gedling Borough Council
Judge’s quote
“Excellent entry – epitome of small team doing big strategic thinking and things! Entry has flair, style and character showing the belief in what they’re doing.”
8. Best collaboration
Highly commended
Haringey Council
Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead
STEP Communications team
Rachel Brown
Winner
Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead – London Bridge
Judge’s quote
“This might be the most prepared for collaboration however, this won on overall execution and how the team reacted to the unanticipated, you had an exact mark and you hit it.”
9. Best use of research and evaluation
Winner
Dorset Council Visit Dorset - Promise to Love Dorset
Judge’s quote
“This is a deserved winner. The objectives were clear and concise and the research and evaluation ensured the campaign was a huge success. Great use of behavioural science and in-depth audience research to help influence the outcomes. Despite having a number of goals the campaign really delivered and saw remarkable and significant improvements in all the key campaign objectives. This campaign went well beyond “vanity metrics” and delivered real value to the taxpayer. Outstanding.”
10. Supporting health and wellbeing in communications
Winner
Hertfordshire County Council – Let’s win winter
Judge’s quote
“Really creative and some tremendous outcomes! Well done.”
11
Best creative comms
Highly commended
Blackburn with Darwen Council
Thread & Fable with NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde, NHS Lothian, NHS Lanarkshire
Winner
Scottish Water - Nature Calls
Judge’s quote
“A fabulously thorough behaviour change campaign – from SMART objectives to beautifully moving and memorable assets. Excellent scriptwriting, a sharp CTA and remarkable results. Awesome effort!”
12. Best young communicator
Shortlist
Highly commended
Lauren Tye, Telford & Wrekin Council
Winner
Jack Grasby, South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue
Judge’s quote
“Jack has been instrumental in the delivery of many hugely effective campaigns as well as delivering huge increases in the service’s digital engagement. All of this has helped make SYFRS one of the most respected public service comms teams out there.”
13. Best internal communications
Shortlist
Highly commended
The Queen Elizabeth Hospital King’s Lynn NHS Foundation Trust – Improving staff engagement, wellbeing and communications
Hertfordshire County Council - Disability at work
Winner
Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea
Judge’s quote
“This was a well-researched, creative campaign, which used a wide variety of channels and had clearly been carefully planned to deliver a truly joined-up approach, which resulted in a cohesive cross-channel campaign reaching right through the organisation. The team considered numerous factors and made sure to deliver wide-ranging appeal and interest. The campaign started with internal comms but it also goes much wider, spilling out into supporting the local community – but still in a very joined-up and cohesive way. There was no part of this campaign that made us question why it was in there. We also like that the team engaged staff in actually creating the campaign – thereby really closing the loop.”
14. Best ethical comms behaviour/diversity
Highly commended
Thread and Fable
Staffordshire County Council
South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue
Bradford Council
Winner
Hertfordshire County Council
Judge’s quote
“This is a campaign underpinned by extensive, relevant insight and research and clear objectives. It focuses on lived experience and using this to engage audiences that it might otherwise be missed. Implementation was creative, tackling some of the difficult questions or issues that are often left unseen or unchallenged in the workplace. The entry demonstrated clear, measurable objectives that go beyond outputs and outtakes to measure shifts in behaviour. The use of colleagues to tell their stories to help others tell theirs was effective and impactful demonstrated by the measurement but also by the fact the videos were picked up by outside partners who promoted them and used them for their own campaigning. It is credit that this was all delivered in house using the skills and time of the team. Well done.”
15. Best use of email
Highly commended
Telford & Wrekin Council x 2
Mid and South Essex Integrated Care System
Bradford Council
Winner
Staffordshire County Council
Judge’s quote
“Outstanding piece of work on so many levels. Clearly showing the value of using email to support the most vulnerable in communities whilst taking a population approach at a key life stage. The planning and attention to detail is incredible, the creative, timeless and understanding of content resulted in an incredible campaign. Over 470 emails written! The planned drip approach that made use of email strategy to its fullest is inspiring. Use of videos, partners and brands is brilliant. Thinking big really did lead to a big impact. Amazing work congratulations to the team.”
16. Best use of video
Winner
Durham Constabulary
Judge’s quote
“This was truly an incredible piece of video work - the subject was highly emotive yet the team delivered a phenomenal video seen by millions of people and all done with zero budget - incredible!”
>> PUBLIC VOTE CATEGORIES
17. Guest post of the year
Winner
Jude Tipper
18. Team of the year
Winner
Staffordshire County Council
19. Lifetime Achievement
Winner
Eddie Coates-Madden
🖤 Well done to everyone who won and was shortlisted and thanks to everyone who entered. Please come back and enter in 2023 🖤
>> UNAWARDS19 WINNERS
1. Best ethics and diversity
Northamptonshire County Council
“Good, practical activity delivering real results for real people in a realistic and understandable way”
2. Best Collaboration
Local Government Association
“An excellent example of mass collaboration to influence funding for public services”
3. Best Small Team
Talk, Listen Change Team
“Clear objectives, creative content and cross organisational engagement made this entry stand out. The team were given a clear remit and they set out to demonstrate their approach and worth and gain the buy in of senior leaders and the wider organisation to support them in creation of a new brand and identity. They used evaluation tools and techniques to ensure their output added real value to organisational aims”
4. Best Social Media Account
Doncaster Council
“Can’t fault this entry. The objectives were clear, the content superb, and detailed, measurable outcomes were outlined. The team sound very knowledgeable and creative - keep up the good work”
5. Best Use of Email
Kirklees Council
“This was a great email campaign that made a real difference to people’s lives - offering support and advice to help people stick to their New Year’s resolutions and in turn improve their health and well-being”
Highly Commended
Cardiff University
Bradford Council
6. Best Creative Comms
Winner
City of Wolverhampton Council
“This entry won the judges’ hearts with not only its creative approach to increasing uptake but also the impressive delivery of the messaging, with the results speaking for themselves”
Highly Commended
South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service
7. Best Internal Comms
Winner
Office of the Public Guardian – Together everyone achieves more
“A truly comprehensive campaign, addressing an important organisational need, with real focus on how to land the message with staff and achieve behaviour change”
Highly Commended
Sellafield Ltd
Staffordshire County Council
8. Best Young Communicator
Michael Reynolds
St George’s University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
“Michael has delivered some great outcomes for his Trust, ranging from increasing take up of a staff flu vaccination programme to an award winning nursing recruitment campaign. His work has clear measurable objectives and the results have had a tangible impact, which means he is a worthy winner in a talented top five shortlist”
9. Best Use of Research and Evaluation
Winner
Sheffield Children’s NHS Foundation Trust
“Excellent outcomes on a very small budget. Great research, clear objectives, easy to measure and very clear outcomes. Incredible ROI. Excellent”
Highly Commended
South Lanarkshire Council Comms and Waste Teams
10. Best Use of Video
London Borough of Barking and Dagenham
“This campaign was developed in direct response to resident feedback on what they want the council to prioritise. All five objectives are SMART. The approach is superb and innovative. The creative use of video is brilliant. The council could have chosen to publish pictures of littering offenders, but packaging the images into a narrated TV type production was a fantastic idea. I love the voice-over and narrative. The video is engaging and funny and has clearly resulted in some great outcomes. Well done Barking and Dagenham”
11. Best Social Media Campaign
London Borough of Tower Hamlets
“A good mix of internal promotion of employee and departmental achievements, as well as promo to external audiences to raise awareness. An effective utilisation of media, tailored to different channels, including social media and YouTube”
12. Best Crisis Comms
Derbyshire Constabulary, Derbyshire County Council and Derbyshire Fire and Rescue Service
“A really humbling and impressive entry with outstanding results. Exceptional”
13. Best Comms/Digital Professional
Jude Tipper, NHS Digital
“Someone who has made an incredible difference and has set the gold standard for what NHS comms could and should be. Quite simply; a phenomenon”
14. Best Low Cost Comms
Loch Lomond & The Trossachs National Park Authority
“Really creative campaign using well researched insight and defined activity meeting clear measurable objectives. Using a sense of humour to be bold and cheeky by talking about ‘poo’ in a way that is engaging and relatable to open up conversation. A genuinely convincing low cost campaign that not only delivered but was planned to be fun to work on. The creativity was also evident in the entry. Odd how a sh#t campaign is the winner”
15. Best Work by an Agency/Freelancer
Amplia Group
“A truly integrated traditional and digital campaign which reflects today’s fragmented audience groups”
16. Supporting Health and Wellbeing
Network Rail
“Sitting in my lounge in floods of tears. Wow. What a simple yet HIGHLY effective approach to launching a highly important policy. It can be hard to drive people to HR policies, but this approach breaks the mould. Well done to Simone and my thoughts and love to John”
17. Best Guest Post 2019
Jude Tipper
18. Best Comms Team
Derbyshire Constabulary
19. Lifetime Achievement UnAward
Jo Bland
UNAWARDS18 >> THE WINNERS
Best Communications Officer
Albert Freeman, Bradford Council
Best Agency/Freelancer
Thread and Fable
(for ‘Women in Sport’ campaign)
Best Crisis Communications
Tower Hamlets Council
Best Use of Email
Highly commended - Traffic Commissioners for Great Britain
Winner - Bradford Council
Best Young Communicator
Grace Fordham, Hertfordshire County Council
Best Collaboration
Northamptonshire County Council
Best Social Media Campaign
Derbyshire Constabulary
Best Social Media Account
Highly commended - Met Office and Doncaster Council
Winner - Worcester Acute Hospital NHS Trust
Best Use of Ethics and Diversity
Tower Hamlets Council
Best Small Communications Team
Highly commended - Gateshead Health NHS Foundation Trust
Winner - Comms Unplugged
Best Creative Communications
Highly commended - Comms Unplugged
Winner - South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service
Best Low Cost Communications
Loughborough University
Best Internal Communications
Loughborough University
Best Use of Video
Derbyshire Constabulary
Best Use of Research and Evaluation
Highly commended - Loughborough University
Winner - Cambridgeshire County Council
PUBLIC VOTE
Lifetime Achievement
Jayne Surman
Best Guest Post of 2018
Jude Tipper
Best Communications Team
Warwickshire County Council
Well done to all 70 shortlisted entries.
See you again in August for the launch of the #UnAwards19
UNAWARDS17 >>THE WINNERS
Best communications/digital professional [JUDGED]
Melissa Thermidor, NHS Blood and Transplant
Best young communicator [JUDGED]
Sam Getliffe, Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service
Best social media campaign [JUDGED]
NHS England South
Best social media account [JUDGED]
NHS Blood and Transplant
Best collaboration [JUDGED]
Loughborough University
Best ethical communications behaviour/diversity [JUDGED]
Joanna Goodwin and the Office of National Statistics (Digital publishing accessibility champions)
Highly commended - Melissa Thermidor and NHS Blood and Transplant
Best crisis/emergency comms [JUDGED]
Greater Manchester Police
Best internal communications [JUDGED]
QE Hospital Gateshead
Best creative communications [JUDGED]
South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue
Best use of research/evaluation [JUDGED]
Sherwood Forest Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Highly commended - Nottinghamshire County Council
Best use of email [JUDGED]
Birmingham City Council
Best small communications team [JUDGED]
Selby District Council
Highly commended - Comms Unplugged (Sally Northeast & Georgia Turner)
Best low cost communications [JUDGED]
South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue
Best use of video [JUDGED]
South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue
Best work by an agency or freelancer [JUDGED]
Touch Design
Best communications team (PUBLIC VOTE)
Enfield Council
Best guest post (PUBLIC VOTE)
Lauren Kelly
Lifetime achievement [PUBLIC VOTE]
Jill Walden
Well done to all 70 shortlisted entries.
See you again in August for the launch of the #UnAwards18.
UNAWARDS16 >>THE WINNERS
1. BEST SOCIAL MEDIA CAMPAIGN
- NHS England - @NHS
2. BEST SMALL TEAM
JOINT WINNERS
- South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue
- Brake
3. BEST CRISIS OR EMERGENCY COMMS WORK
- Selby District Council
4. BEST WORK BY AN AGENCY OR FREELANCER
- One Black Bear – Genomics campaign
5. BEST COMMS AND DIGITAL PROFESSIONAL
JOINT WINNERS
- Stephanie Collinson
- Daniel Cattanach
6. BEST CREATIVE COMMS
- Westminster City Council - SpeakSense
7. BEST USE OF EMAIL
HIGHLY COMMENDED
- Stafford College
- Redbridge Council
WINNER
- Central Bedfordshire Council
8. BEST LOW COST/FREE CAMPAIGN
- Hertfordshire County Council – Love your bump
9. BEST USE OF VIDEO
- Camden Council - Know you're not alone
10. BEST COLLABORATION
JOINT WINNERS
- Leeds Dying Matters Partnership
- Fife Council
11. BEST USE OF RESEARCH OR EVALUATION
- Northamptonshire County Council
12. BEST USE OF INTERNAL COMMS
- Brent Council – 12 days of Christmas
13. BEST YOUNG COMMUNICATOR (under 30)
- Jack Bowers
14. BEST SOCIAL MEDIA ACCOUNT
- London Ambulance Service - Twitter
15. BEST ETHICAL COMMS BEHAVIOUR/DIVERSITY (sponsored by the NUJ PRCC)
- Sarah Stimson for Taylor Bennett Foundation PR Traineeship Programme
and decided by you via a public vote…
16. LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT UNAWARD
- Phil Jewitt
17. BEST COMMS TEAM
- TransPennine Express Trains
18. BEST GUEST POST OF 2016
- Emma Rodgers
Well done to all of our 77 shortlisted entries.
THE WINNERS >> 2015
BEST USE OF SOCIAL MEDIA *WINNER*
London Fire Brigade for 50 Shades of Red
Our judges said…
“A bold, creative, witty and highly effective social media campaign which achieved impressive results. Great use of images, and sense of humour, to attract attention and drive an important messages home.”
“Outstanding campaign stemming from a simple yet incredibly engaging idea, which ran and ran.
Popular because it was creative yet timely. This secured an incredible amount of additional coverage which led to the overall campaign objectives easily being secured. Exactly what a social media campaign should look like. I was very impressed by this.”
Judges special merit - University Hospitals Coventry & Warwickshire NHS Trust
BEST SMALL COMMS TEAM *WINNER*
Queen Elizabeth Gateshead
Our judges said:
“Outstanding performance from a small team. Clear objectives were consistently delivered and exceeded. Continue to push the envelope and look at new communications solutions embracing new and old media.”
“A very impressive team built on solid, strategic, foundations and delivering excellent results across the board.”
BEST USE OF EVALUATION OR RESEARCH *WINNER*
Lambeth Council
“An ambitious, well researched and ultimately incredibly successful campaign that exceeded all expectations.”
“A powerful campaign that worked. Impressive to see how a thorough and in-depth suite of research was used to deliver a campaign that was effective and hard hitting, yet didn’t feel stereotyped.
The results show the validity of the planning and ultimate execution.”
Judge's special merit - FirePro
BEST WORK BY AGENCY/FREELANCER *WINNER*
Shadow Giants // #GoBritain
Judge's special merit - Touch Design // Love our learner
BEST CRISIS OR EMERGENCY COMMS WORK *WINNER*
Sheffield City Council
Judge’s special merit - Brent Council & Nottinghamshire Fire & Rescue
BEST COMMS/DIGITAL PROFESSIONAL *WINNER*
Tom Stirling, North Yorkshire Police
Our judges said:
“A great example of how an inspirational professional can take an organisation from nowhere to the cutting edge of operations and research.”
BEST CREATIVE COMMS *WINNER*
Leeds City Council
Our judges said:
“Fab storytelling. Loved the use of real-life personal stories to capture imagination and very impressive social media stats. All achieved within an impressively low budget. Longevity, big potential to carry on and develop the campaign further.”
Judge’s special merit - Stoke-on-Trent City Council, Gedling Borough Council & Podnosh
BEST USE OF EMAIL *WINNER*
Sheffield City Council
Our judges said:
“Clear objective with a targeted audience, achieving a specific goal and a good outcome especially given the small budget. Fantastic improvement on previous years with many more subscribers and significant number of measurable registrations. Value to the public and the council was significant.”
BEST LOW COST/FREE COMMS *WINNER*
Westminster City Council
Our judges said:
“Brilliant – Extremely well thought out and delivered campaign. Fabulous result. This is how local government comms should be done.”
Judge's special merit - Hertfordshire County Council – Scam awareness
BEST USE OF VIDEO *WINNER*
Sheffield City Council
Our judge said:
“An immensely watchable film with a frenetic pace and narrative thread that is particularly well crafted from contributed material. The linkages from high-dive to river swimming and campfire to heavy industry for example demonstrate craft and direction that allow the film to flow naturally and unaided.
The range of slow motion, underwater, aerial, time-lapse, handheld, point of view and everything else in between mean that the film is likely to have something for everyone and echoes the positive and inclusive portrayal of Sheffield. The nature of the gathered footage only adds to this perception of inclusivity and shared experience which perfectly exemplify the message of the film.
Above all else the film feels both inviting, honest and genuine - the latter being one of the most difficult storytelling perspectives to achieve in a piece where the primary focus is on promotion. Excellent filmmaking both technically and conceptually.”
BEST INTERNAL COMMS *WINNER*
Staffordshire County Council
Our judges said:
“A target busting campaign! An excellent example of how combining channels and honing focus produces results. Refreshing to see an action plan embedded with an employee survey. Well done.”
BEST COLLABORATION *WINNERS*
NHS Coventry & Rugby CCG
“This is a tough area to tackle that others are grabbling with up and down the country. It’s great to see such a worthwhile and collaborative approach adopted across so many partners.”
Futures Housing Group
“I really liked the creativity and integration across this campaign. It was well considered, well executed and to have fully co-ordinated this approach across so many partners shows public sector collaboration at its finest."
BEST COMMUNICATIONS TEAM [PUBLIC VOTE] *WINNER*
North Yorkshire Police
BEST GUEST POST ON COMMS2POINT0 [PUBLIC VOTE] *WINNER*
Emma Rodgers for Comms Room 101
LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD [PUBLIC VOTE] *WINNER*
Sarah Lay