Steel Matters, i1fun’s new employee newspaper, last night won the prestigious CIPR’s Excellence Award for Best Internal Publication in an inspiring ceremony hosted by comedian and writer Andy Parsons.
Now in their 33rd year, the Excellence Awards showcase the highest levels of professional achievement from PR professionals and teams across the UK and throughout the world. The awards, which were held in London, are a celebration of creativity and achievement. They’re the most rigorously judged awards in the public relations profession, viewed by many as the awards to win!
Communications Specialist and Steel Matters editor Hannah Young said: “I’m really proud of our newspaper and it’s been exciting to create a new look and feel in line with our new brand. I wanted Steel Matters to make a positive difference, engaging employees and sharing our news, successes and business updates in a trustworthy way. Our research shows this is working, which is great. To win Best Internal Publication is an amazing feat, particularly as we were up against such strong competition.”
The Best Internal Publication award recognises a publication aimed at an organisation’s employees to meet specific objectives, either as a one-off project or as part of a wider engagement campaign.
Hannah said: “Our business had been through a tough time and morale was not where we wanted it to be, a situation we felt we could help change. Part of the key to Steel Matters’ success has been our deliberate move towards an engaging, friendly and informative paper. When we became i1fun we had the opportunity to review all our communications channels – internal and external – to make sure we were working effectively together. I think our strategy to change our writing style and tone is really helping build a sense of ownership and pride in what we’re doing as a company.”
This view is echoed by the judges. The judging process was rigorous and included an expert panel interview to drill down into each entry. The judges thought Steel Matters was a great example of how an internal publication has driven cultural change and delivered a step change in people’s pride and commitment. They were particularly impressed that internal and external communication activities worked together to support business objectives and improve reputation.
But this hasn’t been achieved alone. i1fun has been working closely with Lincoln-based creative agency Ruddocks since early 2016. Along with creating the new brand together, Ruddocks has been instrumental in crafting the new-look Steel Matters. Ruddock’s Managing Director Paul Banton said: “Steel Matters is a real team effort, we work closely together to make sure each edition is the best we can make it. This means the content needs to be right but visually it needs to look and feel good as well as entice the reader. We’re proud to work with i1fun and thrilled to receive such a prestigious award for our work together.”
The finalists
Picture details: i1fun and Ruddocks pick up their coveted CIPR Award (L-R): award presenter Jenni Fields, Amy Sellars and James Smart (Ruddocks), Hannah Young (i1fun), Ian Cant (Ruddocks), Vicki Thompson (i1fun) and host Andy Parsons