Communiqué Awards: Winners & coverage

Earlier this evening, at London's Grosvenor House hotel, the Communiqué Awards recognised and commended excellence and best practice in healthcare communications for the thirteenth year.

The 13th Communiqué Awards certainly weren't unlucky for Euro RSCG Life Medicom, Health Mandate and Virgo HEALTH who took home three awards each.

Organised by PMGroup, publisher of leading industry magazines Pharmaceutical Marketing, Pharmaceutical Marketing Europe, Communiqué and The Directory, the Communiqué Awards are a highlight in the industry calendar. "The spotlight on our industry is bigger and brighter than ever before and the expectations for transparency and meaningful dialogue are intensifying," said Mark Savage, managing director of PMGroup, in his opening speech. He continued: "The Communiqué Awards, in their own right, is a perception-forming and reputation-enhancing event!"

The Grosvenor's Great Room thundered with laughter and applause from over 1,000 guests for the evening's host, comedian Michael McIntyre. McIntyre is no stranger to awards ceremonies himself, holding a string of titles including Winner of the British Comedy Award for Best Live Stand-up in 2009, TV Times Best Newcomer in 2009 and most recently, a BAFTA nomination in the Entertainment Performance category.

A number of new awards were introduced to the scheme this year – the Award for Best Corporate Communications, the Award for Best Internal Communications Programme and the Trust & Reputation Award. These were won by Euro RSCG Life Medicom for their Counterfeiting Superhighway campaign, Shire for A Brave New Brand for Shire Pharmaceuticals and Leerink Swann's Medical Publishing Insights and Practices Initiative, respectively

Other changes this year saw the Awards process begin with a consultation involving industry and consultancy experts, which led to the categories and judging process being completely overhauled. This resulted in nearly 300 entries being received – an increase of 20 per cent on 2009, and included entries from a number of companies that were unable to enter previously.

The adjudication process is highly respected and each campaign submitted to an Award category is scrutinised by a panel of judges made up of senior personnel in industry marketing and PR departments, PR consultancies, medical education and communication agencies, industry freelancers and stakeholders.

Each year the Communiqué Awards supports a different charity. The 2010 charity is Facing Africa which funds and organises teams of highly experienced volunteer surgeons, anaesthetists and nurses who travel to Ethiopia and perform facial surgery on victims of Noma – an aggressive oral infection.

Full details about the Awards process along with winners'  photographs and details of winning entries can be found in the Awards section of PMLiVE.

Winners photographs now available: www.pmlive.com/cx_winners_in_pictures

View the full winning campaign details: www.pmlive.com/cx2010winners