Share your inside story and celebrate success

The fourth annual CIPR Inside #insidestory awards are now open. This is your opportunity to have your hard work recognised by the Chartered Institute of Public Relations and celebrate excellence in internal comms and employee engagement.

Each year the group of internal communicators on the CIPR Inside committee review the programme, and adapt it to make sure it delivers what the changing world of internal communication needs.

This year the main category of employee engagement will be split to “give smaller organisations a chance to shine”, and the best internal magazine category has also been divided by budget to better represent the work internal communication does, often delivered with minimal expenditure.

I like the fact a new category ‘Most innovative approach to an internal communications challenge’ has also been added to capture examples of breaking the mould or taking bold steps with internal communication.

There are certainly lots of challenges when it comes to IC, so I welcome the move to recognise this.

Want to find out what to expect from the awards?
Read my article from the #insidestory awards evening in February 2015 and see the highlights video:

The awards categories are:

1. Best example of employee engagement

1. SME (up to 1000 people)
2. Small (1-5k people)
3. Medium (5-10k people)
4. Large (10-50k people)
5. Extra large (50k+ people)

2. Best change or transformation communication campaign

3. Best public sector or charity campaign

4. Best internal event

5. Best use of video

6. Best intranet or enterprise social network

7. Best magazine or newsletter (Choose: a. digital, or b. print, or if it’s both submit two entries)

1. Under £10,000
2. £10,000-£50,000
3. £50,000-100,000
4. £100,000+

8. Most innovative approach to an internal communications challenge

9. Best in-house team (1-6)

10. Best in-house team (7 and more)

11. Best agency

12. Clare Latham award for the best individual contribution to internal communication.

Promoting best practice in internal communication

Jenni Field, @jenniwheller, CIPR Inside’s chair said: “We’re really passionate about internal communication because we all see it making a difference to the workplace. These awards are created to make sure internal communicators are given the platform to show everyone what they do, the impact they make to the organisations they work in and how that translates to real commercial value for the company they work for.

“Best practice and celebrating success are key elements of the CIPR Inside strategy. #insidestory demonstrates our commitment to shining a light on great achievements and promoting best practice.

“The judges will be looking beyond the outputs and tactics to see what impact the work has had on the organisation, and assess how well it’s achieved the objectives.

“Internal communication is all about better informed, more motivated and engaged employees. When we do our job well as communicators, the organisation can thrive.

“These awards celebrate talent, share best practice, measure success and help us all to learn from the best.”

Clare Latham award
I was honoured to receive the inaugural Clare Latham award in 2014 for best individual contribution to internal communication.

I encourage you to nominate a member of your team, or someone you mentor for this award as it’s particularly special and it was a privilege to receive. Find out more about it.

Comms pro Clare Latham (pictured) died in June 2013, and her colleagues at scarlettabbott sponsor this annual award to mark her unique and outstanding contribution to internal communication. They say:

“We are honoured to sponsor this award in Clare’s name, so that other exceptional communicators in our industry remember her name, know her story and are inspired by her memory.”

Read more about the #insidestory awards

See the CIPR Inside website for how to enter, a list of categories and much more.

Dates you need to know: Deadline for entries is 20 November 2015. It costs £95 + VAT to enter. Late entries from 21 – 27 November £115 + VAT to enter.