MacArthur Foundation, Kogi govt, NITDA, DSS bag 2023 African SABRE PR Awards

For supporting gender inclusion in communication practice, the MacArthur Foundation and Kogi State Government are among the winners of the 2023 Africa Public Relations Awards (APRA) which recognises Superior Achievement in Branding Reputation and Engagement (SABRE).

The Department of State Security Service (DSS) and the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) also bagged Certificates of Excellence.

The annual event, hosted by Provoke Media in collaboration with the APRA, celebrates outstanding campaigns that demonstrate the highest levels of creativity, integrity, and effectiveness.

The campaigns of the four recipients were undertaken in partnership with a multi-award-winning PR agency, Image Merchants Promotion Limited (IMPR), the Publishers of PRNigeria, and Economic Confidential.

The MacArthur Foundation and Kogi State Government jointly won a Trophy and Certificate of Excellence for Employee Communication, and West African region categories.

They supported PRNigeria’s crusade on gender inclusivity titled “Nigerian Ladies in PR”, where female interns and staff are trained and tasked with advocacies that promote inter-ethnic relations, national unity, good governance, and gender equality.

The campaigns were executed through public speaking, press releases, article writing, social media engagement, and book publishing.

The DSS campaign was recognised under Public Sector/Government Category for tackling lingering fuel scarcity threatening the Ember Months through stakeholder engagement and effective communication.

The NITDA campaign was recognised under Public Affairs/Government Relations category for deploying mainstream and social media to counter misconceptions by educating the public on the benefits of its Code of Practice for Social Media and Online Platforms.

All submissions were evaluated by a jury of industry leaders. The trophies and certificates will be presented to the winners at the SABRE award ceremony on May 18, at the 2023 APRA conference in Lusaka, Zambia.