In-House Team of the Year

Sponsored by

Back to full list

This award celebrates great work going on within pharmaceutical, biopharma, biotech and other healthcare companies. The Award is open to any multi-disciplinary in-house team focussed on driving health communications/medical affairs.

The award recognises that in-house teams may be managing programmes around both internal and external challenges and opportunities and engaging audiences within and outside their organisation.

Healthcare consultancies may also submit an entry on behalf of a client in-house team providing the relevant authorisations are completed.

Entries must include a print quality colour photograph of the team and state the number of people in the team.

2024 PROCESS:

There will be two stages for this award:

  • Stage 1 will consist of a written entry, which should be completed using the criteria below.  The written entry does not include any marks for an oral presentation, as this will be judged separately from the written presentation.  The judges will review the written entries in Stage 1 and those teams whose written entries have been shortlisted will be invited to present to the judging panel during Stage 2.
  • Stage 2 will consist of a live presentation to the judging panel, as previously for this category on Friday 17 May 2024. Stage 1 scores will not be carried forward into Stage 2.  The shortlisted team will be required to give a short presentation on their entry and will then be asked questions by the judges relating to their team performance. The judges will select the award winner based on this presentation, and the extent to which it supports and validates the original written entry.

The organisers will send invitations by 3 May 2024, therefore it is advisable for up to four members of your team to hold the 17 May 2024 open.

JUDGING CRITERIA AND ENTRY FORMAT:

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY (max 200 words) 0 (zero) marks

If you are nominated for an award, PMGroup may publish extracts from this summary, so ensure that it contains no confidential or sensitive information. No other part of your entry will be reproduced and your entry will remain confidential at all times

Photo

Please upload a high resolution, print quality photograph or collage of the team

Main Entry

1. SITUATION ANALYSIS AND BENCHMARKING – 10 Marks (400 words)

  • In this section you should show the judges how well you understood the situation at the start of 2023, clearly laying out the challenges and opportunities that your team was facing
  • Include information on any new challenges or opportunities that arose during the year
  • Where appropriate, lay out benchmark data that you will refer to in your measurement of effectiveness later
  • Show the judges the best information, data and insights you have about the challenges and opportunities that you faced.
Judges’ top tips
  • This information provides vital context for judging everything else that follows in your entry
  • Think carefully about including data or information that you don’t refer back to later in your entry. This may not be helpful to the judges

2. OBJECTIVES FOR 2023 – 10 Marks (400 words)

  • Describe the team’s objectives for 2023 and how they were to be measured.
Judges’ top tips The judges will:
  • Reward clarity of intent in the objectives and the way they are written
  • Reward objectives focused on outcomes and measurable impact.
  • Projects and programmes with objectives only around outputs or out-takes are unlikely to be marked highly in this section and are less likely to be shortlisted
  • The SMARTer the objectives the more marks you will get (the judges understand that it is not realistic for every objective to be fully SMART) – if the objectives are not fully SMART, let the judges know why not
  • Reward objectives that directly and clearly build on the data presented in the situation analysis
  • Reward commentary on selection of measurement methods including innovation in measurement approaches.

3. STRATEGY AND PLAN – 10 MARKS (400 words)

  • Please outline your team strategy and overall plan for the year referring to the data and insights in the situation analysis section
  • Briefly explain why this was the right strategy e.g. how it maximised opportunities and addressed challenges and how it supported the overall business goals of the wider organisation.
  • If relevant explain how you planned to manage competing priorities, resource shortages or other challenges
  • Be sure to include any points to emphasise bold or innovative strategy selection.
Judges’ top tips The judges will:
  • Reward clarity of thought around strategies and how they are communicated – bullet points may be better than long prose
  • Assess how well the chosen strategy/strategies might achieve objectives
  • Recognise how cross-functional collaboration or external partnership has contributed to your success.

4. EXECUTION AND IMPLEMENTATION – 20 Marks (500 words)

  • Tell the judges how you executed your plan, clearly outlining what was created and delivered for different projects or workstreams
  • Be sure to highlight how you have partnered with other teams within your organisation or other external audiences, customers, stakeholder or agencies
  • Outline how you have implemented programmes focused on key industry issues such as:
    • staff development including evidence relating to how a commitment to excellence and communications expertise has been built within your team
    • environment and sustainability
    • diversity and inclusion
  • Be clear how your team has demonstrated leadership and an ability to influence your organisations business plans
  • If any of the projects or programmes implement by your team have been entered for other Communiqué Awards this year, please state that in this section.
Judges’ top tips
  • To judge this section, the judges need to know what you did or developed– please keep descriptions clear and succinct
  • When awarding marks in this section the judges will reward:
    • a logical selection of project, initiatives or outputs
    • creativity and innovation in the way you execute the tactics
    • excellence in delivery
    • clever selection and maximisation of channels – internal and external
  • the use of insights in finding creative ways to engage the defined audiences

5. EFFECTIVENESS vs THE OBJECTIVES – 20 Marks (500 words)

  • To help the judges assess the strength of the evaluation, please describe how successful the project or programme was in terms of the outcomes achieved versus the relevant measurements set in the Objectives section
  • You may include comments from third-party stakeholders in this section but ONLY if they clearly help to demonstrate the impact of the work and were a pre-planned part of your measurement approach
Judges’ top tips
  • Focus on outcomes where possible – these will always be more highly marked than just outputs or out-takes
  • Describe the measurement approaches used and briefly outline why they were appropriate.
  • Beware of vanity metrics such as numbers of people reached that don’t relate to achievement of an outcome
  • Be really clear what was measured, when and how.
Don’t forget: if you have submitted any work into other categories this year, please include these entries within your supporting documents for this category.