HONG KONG—After a three-year hiatus, the world’s most coveted public relations awards are returning to the Asia-Pacific region with a blue-chip jury; the first ever Asia-Pacific SABRE Awards dinner; and a competition that will pit the best PR programming in the Asia-Pacific region against the best campaigns from around the world in our first Global SABRE Awards competition.

The judging panel includes Mark Hass, chief executive of Edelman China; Vivian Lines, chief executive of Hill & Knowlton, Asia-Pacific; John Studdert, executive chairman of Ogilvy Public Relations Australia; Garry Walsh, who heads APCO Worldwide operations in South East Asia; Neil Green, CEO of SenateSJH Communications in New Zealand; N Chandramouli, CEO of Blue Lotus Communications in India; Whitney Foard Small of Ford Motor Co.; Anna Shipley of Nokia; Shivanth Thukral of Essar Group in India; and Velvet Yoshinami of Danone in Japan.

The first Asia SABRE Awards dinner will be held in Hong Kong at the end of August.

And for the first time, winning programmes from each of our three regional SABRE Awards competitions will be automatically entered into a global competition designed to identify the 25 Best Public Relations Programmes in the World.

According to Paul Holmes, editor and CEO of The Holmes Report, and chair of the judges, “At a time when PR firms are competing not only against each other, but also against advertising agencies, digital specialists, and even management consultancies, it is more imperative than ever that leading PR firms—and the industry as a whole—demonstrate its ability to develop creative content, tell compelling stories, and engage with consumers and other stakeholders to raise awareness, initiate dialogue and drive action.”

More details—and entry forms—will be posted to our SABRE Awards blog over the next 48 hours.