DUBAI—Three agencies have dominated this year’s Middle East Public Relations Association Awards, with 26 accolades between them. Memac Ogilvy won 10 awards in total, including three gold, five silver, and one bronze awards, plus one special award for Campaign of the Year which went to Coca-Cola Dubai’s Ramadan campaign, ‘Labels are for cans, not people’.

Four Communications, meanwhile, won nine awards, including two golds for the best integrated campaign and the best live event. Four Communications also won out as the Agency of the Year.

H+K Strategies won seven awards, including two golds for best corporate reputation and business to business campaigns with #UBERONDXB. H+K Strategies’ President & CEO Middle East, Africa and Turkey, and former MEPRA Chairwoman, Sconaid McGeachin received the 'Chairman’s Award' for her contributions to the Middle East PR industry.

A total of 44 trophies were handed out on the night, and over 500 communications professionals from across the region came together at Dubai’s Marriott Marquis to congratulate the winners and celebrate the work done by the industry in the Middle East region over the past 12 months.

Winners are encouraged to enter the 2016 SABRE Awards EMEA, via a special discount code that MEPRA members can received from their association.

"The Middle East PR Awards ceremony is the event of the year for professional communicators," said MEPRA GM Carine Duvignaud. "This year has been our largest and most successful gala event, doubling the previous year’s attendance. We congratulate all the winners and the short-listed entries for helping to raise the bar."

Consumer Goods

GOLD WINNER: Memac Ogilvy Public Relations – Dubai “Innovation that Excites”

SILVER WINNER: Memac Ogilvy Public Relations – Dubai “Labels are for cans, Not People”

BRONZE WINNER: Memac Ogilvy Public Relations – Dubai “#AmexExplorer: The Card That Takes You Places”

Consumer Services

GOLD WINNER: Hill+Knowlton Strategies with Flash Entertainment – “YASALAM”

SILVER WINNER: InterContinental Dubai Marina with Four Communications Group – “Socialising with Jason Atherton”

BRONZE WINNER: DIFC Wills and Probate Registry with Weber Shandwick MENA – “DIFC Wills and Probate Registry: Providing a transparent succession solution for expat”

Healthcare & Services

GOLD WINNER: Memac Ogilvy Public Relations – Lebanon “Breast Cancer Awareness”

SILVER WINNER: Memac Ogilvy Public Relations – Dubai “Roche Media Academy: An ‘Empowerment Through Knowledge’ Initiative”

BRONZE WINNER: Edelman Middle East – “Bringing a Hospital to Life: PR and Digital at the heart of launching the first hospital of its kind outside of North America”

Corporate Reputation & Image

GOLD WINNER: Hill+Knowlton Strategies – “UBERONDXB”

SILVER WINNER: Etihad Airways with Four Communications Group – “Coming of Age”

BRONZE WINNER: Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation with Four Communications Group – “Maintaining positive reputation for the world’s leading nuclear energy site”

Government Communications

GOLD WINNER: UAE Ministry of Energy – “Winning the 2019 World Energy Congress”

SILVER WINNER: Hill+Knowlton Strategies – “Winning votes for Doha”

BRONZE WINNER: UAE Space Agency with Four Communications Group – “Bringing the UAE Space sector together”

Business to Business

GOLD WINNER: Hill+Knowlton Strategies – “UBERONDXB”

SILVER WINNER: BPG Cohn & Wolfe – “KPMG”

BRONZE WINNER: Marlboro Victor Group with Four Communications Group – “Privet Egipet”

Financial PR

GOLD WINNER: APCO Worldwide with Noor Bank – “Noor Bank”

SILVER WINNER: Amlak Finance PJSC with Weber Shandwick MENA – “Re-launching Amlak to the Market”

BRONZE WINNER: Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank – “ADIB”

Corporate Social Responsibility & Environmental PR

GOLD WINNER: House of Comms – “JIM Will Fix It Nepal Relief”

SILVER WINNER: Memac Ogilvy Public Relations, Dubai – “Back Off Radio”

BRONZE WINNER: Impact Porter Novelli – “Centrepoint – Family Clock”

Best Integrated campaign

GOLD WINNER: Tourism Ireland and Visit Britain with Four Communications Group – “One Break, Two Cities”

SILVER WINNER: Memac Ogilvy Public Relations, Dubai – “Labels are for cans, Not People”

BRONZE WINNER: Edelman Middle East – “Abu Dhabi Festival 2015”

Best Use of Social Media / Digital PR

GOLD WINNER: Memac Ogilvy Public Relations, Dubai – “Labels are for cans, Not People”

SILVER WINNER: Philips – “Philips Arab Health”

BRONZE WINNER: Hill+Knowlton Strategies with Adidas MENA – “Taking Adidas Digital”

Best use of media relations – consumer or trade

GOLD WINNER: Impact Porter Novelli – “White Friday – Souq.com”

SILVER WINNER: Hill+Knowlton Strategies – “Putting Egypt back on the Investment Map”

BRONZE WINNER: Blue Rubicon – “1 in 11”

Best Employee Engagement

GOLD WINNER: GMASCO – Driven By Smiles

SILVER WINNER: Landmark Group – Landmark Group

BRONZE WINNER: Ooredoo Kuwait – Ooredoo Kuwait Digital Channels

Best Live Event / Stunt

GOLD WINNER: UAE Space Agency with Four Communications Group “We have liftoff”

SILVER WINNER: Memac Ogilvy Public Relations, Dubai “Labels are for cans, Not People”

BRONZE WINNER: House of Comms “The show must go on”

Campaign of the Year

Memac Ogilvy Public Relations, Dubai “Labels are for cans, Not People”

Dave Robinson Award – Outstanding Young Communicator of the Year – agency-side:

Four Communications Group – Mohanned Lafi

Highly Commended: Grayling – Katie Fyfe

Dave Robinson Award – Outstanding Young Communicator of the Year – in-house:

Ooredoo Kuwait – Yasser Mohammad

Chairman’s Award

Sconaid McGeachin, Hill+Knowlton Strategies

Agency of the Year

Four Communications Group

Photo: MEPRA chairman Brian Lott