NAIROBI, Kenya, Nov 21 – Apex Communications Ltd (ACL) has received the Overall PR Award during the 2009 Public Relations Society of Kenya (PRSK) Annual Awards of Excellence held on Friday evening at the Carnivore Grounds, Nairobi.
ACL was announced the Overall Winner for PR Campaign of the year under the Public Affairs Category following the successful design and implementation of the 2009 Kenya National Population and Housing Census Communication campaign dubbed, Nipo!, Natambulika!
Working in collaboration with the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS), ACL designed and implemented a communication strategy for the census campaign that would increase awareness and involvement of all Kenyans in the exercise.
As a result of the communication campaign, a total of 98 percent of the targeted 12 million households were enumerated. This being the highest success rate ever achieved in the history of Kenya since independence.
"The hallmark of the PRSK Excellence Awards lies in the PR Campaign of the Year Award which is weighted and battled out by the entries that emerge winners in their respective PR campaign categories. To clinch this overall title, the winning entry must demonstrate outstanding expertise, strategic thinking, originality and creativity in public relations," said Peter Mutie, Chairman, PRSK during the Award Gala held on Friday.
ACL also bagged the best Corporate Social Responsibility Award for the implementation of the Samsung NextHero Football Campaign. The campaign was a partnership between Samsung and Mathare Youth Sports Association (MYSA) which offered the opportunity for more than 10,000 kids from Nairobi\’s underprivileged neighbourhoods to participate and showcase their football skills and talent.
"The most unique aspect about the census campaign was the use of Faith Based Organisations to endorse the exercise nationally and also their willingness to disseminate census information materials through their system and structures," says Lawrence Gikaru, Managing Director, Apex Communications Ltd.
This lead to the dissemination of census information materials to over 50,000 churches, mosques and temples countrywide. Support by Faith-Based Organisations was considered critical due to the vast and pervasive influence that they have on a significant proportion of the Kenyan population.
The PRSK Excellence Awards recognizes and showcase the best in the public relation profession in Kenya and are open to business enterprises, associations, private institutions and Government bodies, PR Agencies, In-house PR departments, students pursuing PR/related courses and individual practitioners.
ACL is a strategic communication consulting firm that helps clients develop and manage communication and professional PR programmes in health, development, social and service sectors.
In 2007, ACL bagged the Overall Winner for PR Campaign of the year with the Marekebisho Media Awards implemented for the Governance, Justice, Law and Order Sector (GJLOS) Reform Programme.
In 2006, the company also won the PRSK overall Award for the Bill Bila Balaa Campaign implemented on behalf of the Nairobi Water Company.
