By Ngozi Onyeakusi— The Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (NIPR) has unveiled 20 award categories for the forthcoming National Spokespersons’ Awards and called for nominations on www.nsawards.ng, the official portal of the awards, for the submission of entries from Thursday, February 1, 2024, to Thursday, February 29, 2024.

 

This followed the unveiling of the action plan for the forthcoming National Spokespersons’ Summit billed for March 2024 by the Minister of Information and National Orientation, Alhaji Idris Malagi.

 

Speaking after the unveiling, the Vice President of NIPR, Professor Emmanuel Dandaura said, the award ceremony, which is being organised in partnership with Image Merchants Promotion Limited (IMPR), the publishers of PRNigeria, Economic Confidential, and Spokespersons’ Digest, is to acknowledge the outstanding contributions of spokespersons across Nigeria.

 

According to him, “The idea of the award is to identify spokespersons who are doing extraordinarily well in their communication and engagement with the public and serving as worthy role models to upcoming practitioners.”

 

Dandaura also commended the Information Minister for unveiling the action plan for the National Spokespersons’ Summit being organised by the NIPR in collaboration with the Ministry and the National Orientation Agency (NOA).

 

He said that “The National Spokespersons’ Summit, which was unveiled by the Honourable Minister, a Fellow of the institute, will attract brilliant minds in the profession to teach, inspire, and learn. While the Summit will provide the opportunity for learning the latest skills and trends, the award ceremony will provide the opportunity for networking and gaining insights into successful PR campaigns by spokespersons.”

 

In his remarks, the Coordinating Chairman of the National Spokespersons Awards Committee and former Chairman of the Lagos State Chapter of NIPR, Segun Mcmedal, said the awards would encourage creativity, inclusivity, and measurable impact in public communication, stakeholders’ engagement, issues, and reputation management, among others.

 

He disclosed that the entries would be evaluated by a jury comprising communication scholars, PR practitioners, and media personalities based on the campaign objectives, channel selection, creativity and innovation, engagement with the audience, and effective impact.

 

Mcmedal added that the award categories would recognise outstanding spokespersons in political communication, crisis communication, financial services, technology, sustainable environment, military, and security services. Also, outstanding spokespersons in the public sector (federal and state governments), judiciary, legislature, and executive arms, including civil society organizations, international and multinational bodies, corporate governance, and regulatory compliance, would be recognized.

 

The National Spokespersons’ Awards ceremony will be held on March 25, 2024, at the iconic International Conference Center in Abuja.