Freshwater shortlisted for CIPR Excellence Award with #WhatTheFox?

Freshwater UK’s #WhatTheFox? campaign with the League Against Cruel Sports has beaten stiff competition to be shortlisted for a national PR award.

Hot on the heels of scooping a Public Affairs Award for Best In-House Consultancy Collaboration, Freshwater and the League Against Cruel Sports are in the running for the Best Public Affairs award at the Chartered Institute of Public Relations Excellence Awards 2015.

The Excellence Awards are a national recognition of outstanding contributions in public relations and attract hundreds of entries from across the UK. Freshwater is now competing against organisations such as Cancer Research UK and the Campaign for Real Ale to win the accolade.

Freshwater was commissioned by the League Against Cruel Sports to help fight the threat of an amendment to the Hunting Act. The proposed revision would allow a pack of hounds to draw out a fox to a waiting gun; the League believed this would bring a return to hunting via the back door.

Awareness of the imminent threat was raised through integrated communications, using channels such as Twitter, Facebook, press and online advertising and flyers, which focussed around the hashtag #WhatTheFox. Working with key supportive MPs and stakeholders, pressure was put on the Coalition to make the debate public.

David Cameron announced that the government would not pursue an amendment to the Hunting Act in the current Parliament within four weeks of the campaign beginning.

Heather Jones, Freshwater director, said: “To be recognised by the industry, and for such an important campaign, is always a proud moment. We thoroughly enjoyed working on this project and are delighted that awareness of the issue is still continuing.”

Co-Chair of CIPR Excellence Awards Judges, Paul Mylrea, said: “Everyone who has made this year’s shortlist should feel extremely proud of getting this far. The standard of entries continues to improve year on year, demonstrating an increasingly vibrant public relations profession.”

This is not the first time that Freshwater has made an appearance at the CIPR Excellence Awards for the quality of its campaigns. In 2011, it secured a gold Integrated Campaign award for its Invisible Death Row campaign with Donate Wales.

The Excellence Award winners will be announced on 3 June at an awards ceremony held in Old Billingsgate, London.