Havas PR walked away with three awards at the 23rd Public Relations Institute of South Africa’s PRISM Awards. The awards ceremony was hosted virtually, on Friday 15th May 2020, on a livestream by PRISM Convenor, Palesa Madumo and PRISA President, Victor Sibeko.

The three awards received by Havas PR were for two campaigns done for Right 2 Read in Limpopo and Gauteng. The Limpopo campaign was a community intervention that saw Right 2 Read galvanise people to help raise awareness of the state of education in Limpopo. The campaign received a silver award in the ‘NGO campaign’ category.

The second campaign was another community intervention aimed at raising books for the library in Alexandra township, Johannesburg. Working with ‘wastepreneurs’ in Johannesburg, Right 2 Read collected more than enough second hand books to stock the library within a three week period. The campaign won a bronze award in ‘NGO campaign’ category and a silver award in the ‘PR on a shoestring category.’ 

Speaking about the awards, Havas CEO, Lynn Madeley, said, “This is a fantastic win for Havas in South Africa. The recognition means a lot to us and we are proud of the teams that worked on these campaigns. They were integrated campaigns that brought the best of our expertise across difference disciplines within the group. The successes of the campaigns really made a meaningful difference in the community, and that’s what we are about at Havas.” 

Head of Havas PR, Larry Khumalo, said of the win, “Congratulations to PRISA and the PRISM Awards for hosting an incredible virtual event. We were together as an industry, although apart, celebrating the best of South Africa’s PR Practitioners, even with this new normal.”

“We are very pleased with the recognition for these worthy campaigns. Each of them is a great study into the continued evolution of the craft of PR. We sat with the best of our strategy and creative arms within the Havas Village and executed smart, impactful work that drove stakeholder participation and changed communities. For that to be recognised at this level is something we are truly proud of.” 

The PRISM Awards event this year was cancelled due to COVID-19 and was hosted virtually on YouTube and Twitter. Part of the hosting panel included radio and TV personality, Thabiso Makhubela.

The Public Relations Institute of South Africa (PRISA) and are the only marketing industry accolades dedicated to the discipline of Public Relations in South Africa.