Esi Hammond adjudged PR Personality of the Year 2019

Esi Hammond, APR – Head of Communications of the Bank of Ghana (BoG), has been adjudged Public Relations (PR) Personality of the Year 2019 at the 8th National PR & Communications Excellence Awards

She beat competition from two other equally competent practitioners in the persons of Dr Kwame Baah-Nuakoh, APR – GNPC; and Asare Okae-Anti, APR – UEW, to sit atop the crème de la crème in recognition of the key role she played in pushing the agenda of actively engaging publics of the bank and keeping stakeholders informed across the country, especially during the banking sector clean-up period.

Among the top individual achievement awards of the year were included: Discovery of the Year category, which award went to Samuel Frank Osei of Newmont Goldcorp; PR Internal Communicator of the Year, Olivia Mifetu-MTN Ghana; and PR Academic of the Year, Dr. Mavis Amo-Mensah, APR, University of Education, Winneba.

The National PR & Communications Excellence Awards is an annual intra-industry awards event, organised by the Institute of Public Relations (IPR) Ghana, to recognise achievements and celebrate the best of Ghana’s PR and Communication industry players.

Outgoing President of IPR-Ghana, Elaine Sam, speaking on the theme for the Awards – ‘Ghana beyond the ordinary: the value of values in our national discourse’ – stated that in this era of ‘awardpreneurs’ the essence of the IPR Awards has become more significant, and hence must focus on values-based themes which have dominated their activities in the past two years.

“Our values as people are being eroded by our selfish desires for enrichment, which often leads to cutting corners in our endeavours. To whom more is given, more is expected; and therefore it is imperative to use our privileged positions as PR practitioners to disseminate the requisite national and professional values in our national discourse,” she said.

The Chairman of the Adjudicating Panel, Kojo Yankah, indicated that over the years IPR has striven to attain higher levels of performance through the professional development courses that are organised for members and through the annual awards competition, to keep standards high.

“Excellence is a high pedestal to attain; it does not come easily; neither can it be purchased in the aisles of any market. As the quality of members im the profession grows, so does the institution,” he said.

Other Awards (Corporate Category)

In the corporate category, Newmont Ghana won three awards: Best in Digital and Social Media Communication, PR Campaign of the Year and PR Organisation of the Year (extractive sector); while Stanbic Bank Ghana picked up two awards – Best in Technology and PR Organisation of the Year (financial sector).

MTN Ghana took the PR Organisation of the Year (telecommunication sector), while Stratcom Africa and Vivo Energy Ghana received Best in Non-profit Communication of the Year and Best Community Relations Programme of the Year, respectively.

The Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) was adjudged PR Organisation of the Year (public sector), while the University of Professional Studies, Accra (UPSA) had Most Outstanding Student Chapter of the Year, with Touchpoint Magna Carta taking Most Outstanding PR Agency (PR Consultancy of the Year) and the Ministry of Transport, Best in Crisis and Issues Communication.

Concurrent with the awards, Honours were also conferred on five past executives of the IPR as fellows for their invaluable commitment and contribution to development of the institute over the years.