Instrumentation Excellence Awards Logo
Entry deadline 8th March 2024
Extended entry deadline: 15th March 2024, additional fee applies
Judging days 2nd, 3rd, 17th May 2024
Awards Ceremony 4th July 2024
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Welcome to the Communiqué Awards

As we take on the privileged responsibility of chairing the judging panel for the Communiqué Awards, the health and medical communications industry is undergoing something of a ‘re-set’.  Challenges with resourcing, time and budgets mean in-house and agency teams must work harder and more collaboratively than ever to demonstrate impact and value.  Of course, this is absolutely right: smart and critical thinking that delivers value will improve outcomes, and these need to be quantified and shared in a meaningful way.  However, as the scrutiny on return on investment grows, there is a risk that the ability to innovate, maybe even fail and apply our learnings, is under threat. 

Reflecting on the Awards’ 25 years, today, we face unprecedented challenges in health and scientific communications – from global pandemics to rising levels of chronic diseases and an epidemic of misinformation.  The acceleration in digital transformation is influencing consumers and healthcare professionals, with many turning to TikTok and AI to self-educate or answer their health questions.  This trend underscores the need for innovative communications strategies to effectively navigate and utilise the mechanism we have at our disposal.  Old ways of communicating no longer cut it. We need fresh thinking to engage stakeholders and drive real behaviour change.

Our industry must continue to prioritise progress, bravery, and innovation in service of doing the right thing, so let’s not lose this vital aspect of our work. The path of innovation wanders into unmapped terrain. It demands grit, resilience, and no shortage of courage. But progress depends on it. In this era of ’re-set’, let bravery be our guide as we reimagine the future of health communications together.

The Communiqué Awards have always encouraged innovation and progress and have never stopped evolving in response to the changing environment and feedback from the industry. As this year is no exception, we are delighted to introduce a couple of changes that will help keep the awards relevant:

  • The launch of a new Excellence in Pro Bono Working category highlights the benefits of pro bono working within the healthcare communications and medical affairs industry. It recognises sector-leading work in this field by celebrating those agencies and in-house departments who are already doing it and documents the benefits in this win/win scenario. In these difficult economic times, Communiqué wants to recognise companies which are investing their time and expertise to make a positive impact on issues that need it most
  • Development of a new Progress Award: in consultation with the Group Heads, we are evolving the Innovation Awards for Scientific Communications and Healthcare Communications into one category. We have also changed the name to emphasise the importance of learning and demonstrating how a different approach has helped progress our knowledge and understanding of a problem. Rest assured, we are still looking for examples of bravery, innovation and work that make us say ‘Wow’! Finally, experience shows that we often see great examples of this in other categories but not entered directly into the ‘Innovation’ Awards. So, we’re also going to experiment and trial an approach whereby companies can enter directly, and Group Heads can also nominate work from their categories that they believe meet the criteria. Will it work? Well, if it doesn’t, we’ll have learned something!
  • The Leadership Award for Action on Workforce Diversity and Inclusion has been renamed the Award for Action on Workplace Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. This reflects the importance of whole organisational efforts to drive inclusive cultures and that equity is explicitly mentioned within the criteria.
  • Finally, the Agility and Flexibility Award has been updated to recognise transformation, in keeping with the theme of the importance of the lasting impact of our work. This Award also references the use of AI, however we are expecting to see this come through in entries for other categories as new technologies are incorporated into healthcare and scientific communications
Winning a Communiqué Award continues to be an independent validation by an impartial, experienced team of industry leaders. Integrity in the judging process is paramount and something that Communiqué is rightly proud of. Being shortlisted or winning an Award is a huge motivator for teams who often put their heart and soul into work. The recognition can help your agency or your company to stand out from the crowd in the sector, helping to attract new business or hire and retain the very best talent

We are incredibly excited by the anticipation of seeing the amazing work being done across the industry and feel privileged to co-chair the judging during this challenging, eventful, and thought-provoking time.

Communiqué Awards Co-Chairs:

Catherine Devaney, Founder, Curious Health and Neil Flash, Owner, Ignition Consulting

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TESTIMONIALS

“The Communiqué Awards are rightly a highlight of the healthcare communications industry calendar, and the boost that a win gives to an agency and all its people is tremendous. Oxford PharmaGenesis celebrated our most successful year ever in 2020, despite the unique challenges of a global pandemic, and entering the awards in 2021 felt a natural way to thank everyone for their commitment and dedication. As a company with a broad Medical Affairs focus, we’ve been delighted to see the Communiqué Awards evolve in recent years to include a wider range of more medical-oriented categories. This very much reflects the growth in prominence of Medical Affairs in the pharma industry, and the updated category of Medical Affairs Agency of the Year seemed like an exciting opportunity to showcase the work Oxford PharmaGenesis has been doing in this area.”

– Richard White, Chief Operating, Oxford PharmaGenesis

“We are honoured and delighted to have won Communique’s inaugural Leadership Award for Action on Workforce Diversity and Inclusion. We have worked hard, top down and bottom up, to make a meaningful difference – we’ve tried to embed diversity, equity and inclusion across all aspects of our business, not just internally but also externally in our client and community outreach. It’s a huge privilege for our whole team to have our efforts recognised in this way. We recognise that we are still on a learning journey and we will continue to endeavour to do the best we can to make sure that D&I is in our DNA, both individually and collectively at McCann Health Medical Communications.”

– Alice Choi, MSc MPH PhD CMPP, Chief Operating Officer, McCann Health Medical Communications

“We’re beyond proud to have won the inaugural Communiqué award for Agility and Flexibility. It recognises and celebrates the hard work of a group of dedicated collaborators, who were determined to support patients during the first wave of COVID-19. The high quality of all the finalists’ work and the rigor of the judging process make it all the more significant. It’s a source of great pride, joy and motivation for all the Dovetail team and our wonderful clients.”

– Claire Munro, Owner, Dovetail Strategies

“We were delighted to win two awards at the Communiqué Awards 2021, in the categories of Best Use of Data Visualisation and Charitable Campaign of the Year. After what has been a challenging time for the entire charity sector, we are very proud that our innovative work has been recognised at such a prestigious event. 2021 saw the World Health Organization launch their Global Road Map to defeat meningitis. As one of the wide range of stakeholders who participated in its development, it’s very rewarding to have recognition from the charity sector on our role. Thank you for your support.”

– Liz Rodgers, Research Project Manager, Meningitis Research Foundation

Awards Ceremony

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