Winning a PRISM Award has become an important differentiator for practitioners in the public relations industry.

“Clients are starting to take note of what categories and how many awards a public relations practitioner has won, as a criterion for selection in competitive pitches,” observes PRISM Awards convenor, Bridget von Holdt. “This also applies to corporate public relations departments, who in many cases have the Awards and Recognition as part of their KPIs. “

The ‘impartial endorsement’ provided by ‘owning’ a PRISM Award could contribute hugely to a practitioner gaining more business or recruiting new clients.

As the 25 January entry deadline looms for the 2013 PRISM Awards, public relations companies across southern Africa are waking up to the fact that entering the PRISM Awards is more of a ‘have to’ than a ‘would like to’ on their list of priorities. With almost 40 category awards up for grabs, there are plenty of opportunities to win.

Hein Kaiser of RedStar Communication has won several PRISM Awards, including the premier individual awards, ‘Best Public Relations Strategist’ and ‘Best Public Relations Creative’, which he scooped at the 2008 PRISM Awards.

“Gone are the days when awards were a ‘nice to have’,” says Kaiser. “Today, winning an award is a benchmark of your performance in the industry; it can be the decider on whether you get the business or not. Where two practitioners are equally rated in a pitch to a client, the one with category relevant recognition and a solid track record of awards would likely emerge successful.”

Mike Sharman is the founder of Retroviral Digital Communication, and also a past PRISM Award winner. He believes that corporate companies are becoming more aware of the PRISM Awards as a brand every year, and his clients are unashamedly using their PRISM Awards wins as benchmarks of success.

“We include our PRISM case studies in pitches for new business because they provide a succinct overview of our capabilities,” says Sharman. “We have been inundated with calls from potential clients who reference the PRISM Awards in finding out about us and what we do.”

Charl Nel, Capitec’s head of Strategic Communications, says that although an award is not necessarily a criterion Capitec uses when selecting service providers, it does indicate a level of consistency and quality. “It is an indication over time of good, consistent work,” he says.

Von Holdt say she has also noticed these trends over the past two years . “The PRISM Awards recognise category winners for their excellence in a wide variety of aspects,” she says. “A PRISM Award is a ‘Unique Selling Proposition’ for a practitioner; a key differentiator that corporate companies use to search for excellence amongst public relations companies.”

The PRISM Awards, now in their 16th year, are presented to public relations and communication professionals who have successfully incorporated strategy, creativity and return on investment into public relations and communication strategies and programmes.

Any public relations and communication practitioner and business with a noteworthy programme or strategy that highlights the difference that a successful public relations and communication campaign can make, is urged to enter the 2013 PRISM Awards.