Judging Held for Local Media Works Awards

A panel of judges from across the media industry met yesterday to pick winners for the inaugural Local Media Works Awards.  

The panel looked at entries from media agencies and picked winners for each of the six awards categories:

• Best original thinking
• Best strategy
• Best use of content
• Best use of local targeting
• Best use of multiplatform
• Best of the best

Entrants were tasked with writing a media strategy in response to a brief for a national client. A shortlist will be published over the summer before the winners are announced at an awards celebration party on 21 October.

The judging panel comprised Sue Unerman, MediaCom chief strategy officer; Brandon Bell, Specsavers head of regional and local marketing; Mary-Ann Auckland, Communities Department head of campaigns; Graeme Adams, BT head of media; Patrick Milne, DFS campaign marketing manager; Keith Gulliver, The Post Office head of marketing and Hamish Rickman,  head of brand engagement at Virgin Atlantic Airways.

Mary-Ann Auckland said: “We had a really difficult set of decisions to make. All of the entrants showed a good level of knowledge of local media and the power it can add to a national campaign. 

“It was very encouraging to see media planners really thinking about what the local media proposition is today and how it can be used for maximum impact to improve our communities.” 

Sue Unerman said of the awards: “I think that it is a really good initiative because it shows what a contribution the papers you represent can add to a campaign that is really trying to reach into the heart of the community.”

Hamish Rickman added: “The fact is that in such a cluttered market place engaging the local community is more important than ever and local press is a key way to do that.”

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