Lancashire-based public relations firm, Catapult PR, has swept to double victory at the most prestigious awards in its sector – the Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR) national Excellence Awards – and also won at the PR Moment Awards, during June 2021.
Catapult has won the CIPR Excellence Award for the Best Corporate and Business Communications Campaign. Its managing director, Jane Hunt, has also become a two-times winner of the national CIPR Excellence Best Independent PR Practitioner Award. The PR agency narrowly missed out on a third CIPR Excellence Award for a travel PR campaign.
The CIPR judging panel particularly noted the innovative approach to business promotion that Catapult PR adopted and its diligence in using research to identify a little-known Government recommendation with regard to environmental sustainability and then building a highly strategic campaign around it.
For the Independent PR Practitioner Award, they highlighted the successful business plan and strategies adopted by Catapult PR, its successes for clients and the clarity of vision that Jane Hunt has with regard to her agency.
That clarity has enabled Catapult PR, with offices in Blackpool and Poulton-le-Fylde, to achieve phenomenal success in its 23 years, working with clients across many different sectors, with budgets of sizes and with companies ranging from start-ups to global insurance giants.
The two new national accolades make it a tally of three awards for Catapult PR in June 2021 alone. The consultancy also won a PRMoment Award for the Best Culture, Media, Sport or Travel Marketing Communications Campaign in the Northern PR Moment Awards, held earlier in the month.
At these awards, speaking on behalf of the judges, Claire Fowler, head of communications at Hays, noted that, “This campaign showed the power of a true PR approach, reverting to creative, timely media hooks in difficult circumstances.”
Remarkably, the two new CIPR Excellence Awards are now just two of four of these much coveted national awards that Catapult PR has won.
Jane Hunt has now scooped her second Best Independent PR Consultant award, 9 years after winning her first, with that victory having come in the Olympics year of 2012, when she was presented with her award by athlete, Colin Jackson. In-between, she has been a finalist on several occasions.
In 2018, Catapult PR also won a CIPR Excellence Award for the Best Travel, Leisure or Tourism Campaign.
Jane Hunt says, “There’s a big buzz to winning any award and already having three awards in 2021, taking our total to 44, is just amazing. The CIPR Excellence Awards are our Holy Grail, however, as they are not only national but extremely hard to win, especially for an agency of our size, working with budgets of the level that our clients have at their disposal. It’s incredible that we have again secured two of these top awards, demonstrating that big spend is not as important as creativity and a compelling strategy.”
Catapult PR has another award scooping opportunity for June, being shortlisted for two awards in the PRCA DARE Awards North 2021. The results of those awards will be revealed on June 29.
