CIPR Excellence Award

The Association of Colleges is celebrating after its No Free Lunch? campaign scooped the Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR) Excellence Award for a Public Affairs Campaign last night. The grassroots-led campaign, which ran for just over a year, successfully argued for the Government to extend free meals to disadvantaged 16 to 18-year-olds in colleges – in line with those of the same age studying in school sixth forms The announcement that eligible college students would also receive free meals was made by the Deputy Prime Minister during his conference speech last autumn. AoC’s Public Affairs officer Piran Dhillon, who led the campaign and collected the award, said: “We were so excited to be shortlisted for this prestigious award and winning is testament to the hard work put in by colleges, students and MPs to resolve this long-standing inequality.” Martin Doel, AoC Chief Executive, said: “Winning the campaign was a huge victory for the sector because we estimated 100,000 students in colleges across the country were missing out due to this disparity in funding. From September these young people will be able to carry on studying wherever they want without having to make a decision between eating lunch or studying. “We were successful in securing support from all three political parties and I’d like to add my thanks to everyone who supported us in the campaign.” The CIPR Excellence Awards are the leading public relations awards, recognising the outstanding achievements of individuals, in-house teams and agencies across all sectors of the profession. AoC received its award from comedienne Jo Caulfield at a ceremony in London. AoC's campaign was one of 700 international entries. CIPR President, Stephen Waddington MCIPR, said: “The standard of winners and strength of the competition tonight are proof that there has never been such an exciting time to work in public relations. Our reputation as a profession is built by the kinds of campaigns, teams and professionals receiving these accolades. Congratulations to the winners; they should be proud that their award-winning expertise plays a key role, and delivers business benefit, within every area of a modern organisation.”