Last night saw the 39th Public Relations Institute of Australia (PRIA) Golden Target Awards (GTAs) held at the Hotel Grand Chancellor, Hobart, Tasmania, as part of PRIA’s 2015 National Conference, Huge Transformations.

The packed house hosted consultancy and in-house senior Public Relations leaders at the industry’s night-of-nights – the pinnacle of the annual PR awards program.

The night was hosted by Dr Melanie Irons, UTas, who also spoke during the main PRIA annual conference earlier that day, who thanked GTA co-chairs Angela Coombes and Grant Smith, for their unending support and hard work in managing the program. Representatives from Isentia, Arthur J. Gallagher, Copyright Agency and PRIA’s own council and board volunteers, helped present the long list of awardees.

Big category campaign winners on the night included Rowland; Hardman Communications; PR Edge; Weber Shandwick; HBF; Red Agency; VIVA! Communications; Cannings Purple; Bayer Australia; Ogilvy Australia; Sydney Convicts Rugby Club; and icon.pr.

Ava Lawler, managing director, Australia at Weber Shandwick, said: “We are grateful to our client, Accor Hotel, who had the courage to support a truly innovative and integrated campaign. We are also fortunate to have an inspired, smart team that worked tirelessly to drive tangible, business-focused results.

Erik Denison, media and public relations manager, Sydney Convicts Rugby Union Club said: “Winning this award is a deep honour and we hope it will continue to help elevate the issue of homophobia in sport and motivate continued change.”

There were big individual award winners in Dr Melanie James, University of Newcastle, winning Educator of the Year; Emma Kershaw, Dairy Australia, winning Top sPRinter of the Year; and Arthur Delbridge LFPRIA & Paul Rushton-Clarke MPRIA, sharing the National President’s Award, presented by PRIA Life Fellow and Tasmanian local, Greg Ray.

Group winners consisted Patrick Macdonald, Regatta Hotel, winning In-house Team of the Year; James Wright, Red Agency, winning Large Consultancy of the Year (for the second consecutive year); with the penultimate gong going to Fee Townshend, PR Edge, who took home the National Campaign of the Year with ‘Yellow Pages: RUOK? Covers Partnership’. Susan Redden Makatoa, Ogilvy PR, accepted two GTAs, including the International Campaign of the Year, for Ogilvy’s work with Al Jazeera English in freeing Peter Greste.

“For the team, especially Steve Reilly and Michael Hartmann who put in hundreds of hours, this was a once-in-a-lifetime event. It was our privilege and our honour to have played a part in bringing Peter home. Freedom of the press was absolutely core to this campaign, so we wholeheartedly supported it,” said Susan Redden Makatoa, group managing mirector – Corporate, Ogilvy PR.

James Wright, Group COO, Havas Worldwide and Managing Director, Red Agency (pictured above), said: “We are humbled and honoured to go back-to-back as consultancy of the year. It’s a testament to the dedication, passion and expertise we have across the consultancy that is delivered day in, day out, that has enabled us to pick up these consecutive wins. We have a vision to redefine the meaning and role of PR in today’s world and you can see that in the work we are doing. I want to thank all of my team for their supreme efforts in making this happen.”

Joanne Painter, managing director, icon.pr. said: “As an agency committed to sustainability and positive behaviour change campaigns, winning a Golden Target Award for Love Food, Hate Waste was particularly thrilling.

“Winning a Golden Target Award is the pinnacle achievement for any PR consultancy and we feel very privileged to have been recognised by our peers. With six awards and one GTA trophy, last night was the biggest in Icon’s history – and proof that our integrated approach to PR can achieve big things for clients.”

Here’s a list of all the winners:

Category	Title of Entry	Company	Entrant	State	Result
Big Budget	A Taste of Harmony 2015	Haystac Public Affairs	Haystac Public Affairs	NSW	Commended
	Transurban’s Acquisition of Queensland Motorways Limited	Rowland	Kelly Robinson	QLD	Winner
Business to Business Marketing	Digital Roadies Take Centre Stage	Weber Shandwick Australia	Ava Lawler	NSW	Commended
	Mondelez International Mobile Futures	Red Agency	Natasha Carroll	NSW	Commended
	Expectations vs Reality of Retirement in Australia	Ogilvy Public Relations	Ogilvy Public Relations Australia and Mercer	NSW	Highly Commended
	Commonwealth Bank Agri Insights	Hardman Communications & Commonwealth Bank of Australia	Hardman Communications	NSW	Winner
Community Relations	Child and Parent Centres: The communications challenge for an innovative new community services model	Department of Education	Jane Machin-Everill	WA	Commended
	City of Armadale to Get to know #TheDale	Clarity Communications	Anthony Hasluck	WA	Highly Commended
	Gold Coast Light Rail – Community Relations	P4 Group	P4 Group / GoldlinQ / Department of Transport and Main Roads	QLD	Highly Commended
	Standing up for a better deal. How NSW Farmers rewrote the book on political campaigning in country NSW.	icon.pr	Joanne Painter	VIC	Highly Commended
	Train tunnels, trucks and the toolkit to build trust – Sydney Metro Northwest	Thiess John Holland Dragados and Transport for NSW	Thiess John Holland Dragados and Transport for NSW	NSW	Highly Commended
	Yellow Pages: RUOK? Covers Partnership	PR Edge	Fee Townshend	VIC	Winner
Consumer Marketing	Buderim’s Hottest Ginger	Agent 99 Public Relations	Agent99 Public Relations	NSW	Commended
	Rebuilding Trust in Malaysia Airlines in Australia and New Zealand	Crossman Communications	Jackie Crossman	NSW	Highly Commended
	Tackling Obesity: The Impromy Health and Weight Loss Program	Ellis Jones	Ellis Jones	VIC	Highly Commended
Content Marketing	Love Food, Hate Waste’ – how content marketing is helping to change waste behaviours	icon.pr	Joanne Painter	VIC	Commended
	Unilever Food Solutions – Back of House	PPR	Michael Pooley	NSW	Highly Commended
Digital and Social	Standing up for a better deal. How NSW Farmers rewrote the book on political campaigning in country NSW.	icon.pr	Joanne Painter	VIC	Highly Commended
	ibis PLAY	Weber Shandwick	Ava Lawler	NSW	Winner
Experiential	LWP Property Group: ‘Bringing Communities to Life’	Hola PR	Lorelei Campbell	WA	Commended
	Big Bethanie Bake Off	Devahasdin	Sandra Devahasdin	WA	Commended
	The Bar that Jack Built	Red Agency/Red Guerrilla	Red Guerilla	NSW	Commended
	Rolling out a ‘redi-revival’: rediATM Big Wednesday Giveaway	Cole Lawson Communications	Erin Rigby	QLD	Highly Commended
	EASY Tour: HIV Testing Week	Red Agency	James Wright & Samara Kitchener	NSW	Highly Commended
	House of Suntory Exclusive Takeover Series	Icon International	Sarah Corry	NSW	Highly Commended
	Hide and Sneakers	HBF	Fleur Wylie & Chantelle Cox	WA	Winner
Government Sponsored Campaigns	Raising awareness, reducing waste. Why Victorians Love Food, Hate Waste	icon.pr	Joanne Painter	VIC	Highly Commended
	Seasonal Workers Communications Campaign	Fairwork Ombudsman	Carly De Assuncao	VIC	Highly Commended
	EASY Tour: HIV Testing Week	Red Agency	James Wright & Samara Kitchener	NSW	Winner
Health Organisations	Meningococcal Australia: Know.Check.Act Campaign	SenateSHJ	Nerida Thorburn and Jodie Wrigley	NSW	Commended
	Healthy Bones Action Week 2014: ‘Stronger Together’	Dairy Australia	Kelly Ward	VIC	Commended
	Supporting the world’s largest and most rigorous investigation into anorexia nervosa	VIVA! Communications	Kirsten Bruce	NSW	Commended
	Enlarging awareness of enlarged prostates:are you a “More than once a night” man?	GSK Australia	GSK Australia	VIC	Commended
	HBF Run for a Reason PR Campaign	HBF	Fleur Wylie	WA	Commended
	Winter is Coming	NPS MedicineWise	Media & PR Team, Corporate Affairs and Governance	NSW	Commended
	Sign My Name	Red Agency	James Wright/The Red Agency Team	NSW	Commended
	Ending HIV: Giant Condom Campaign Activation	ACON	ACON Engagement Strategies Team	NSW	Highly Commended
	Lungs4Life – Driving adult protection against pneumococcal pneumonia	VIVA! Communications	Kirsten Bruce	NSW	Highly Commended
	Our Plea for Life	VIVA! Communications	Kirsten Bruce	NSW	Winner
Intergrated Marketing and Communications Strategy	Standing up for a better deal. How NSW Farmers rewrote the book on political campaigning in country NSW	icon.pr	Joanne Painter	VIC	Commended
	Not out of the Woods	SenateSHJ	SenateSHJ in partnership with bioCSL	NSW	Highly Commended
	Nespresso: Milk Expertise	Weber Shandwick	Ava Lawler	NSW	Highly Commended
	#heartofgold Campaign for WA gold miners	Cannings Purple	Cannings Purple	WA	Winner
Internal/Change Management Communications	Yarra Valley Water’s Purpose-led Transformation	Yarry Valley Water	Strategic Communications Team	VIC	Commended
	Building Project BOB	Boeing Defence Australia	Stephanie Hulett	QLD	Commended
	Stand Up Speak Up	Elders	Fiona Stuckey	SA	Highly Commended
	Bayer Australia and New Zealand – Ambition 2015	Bayer Australia Limited	Kirsten Impey, Communications	NSW	Winner
Issues Management and Crisis Communication	Rebuilding Trust in Malaysia Airlines in Australia & New Zealand	Crossman Communication	Jackie Crossman	NSW	Commended
	Easter Mondayitis: How good PR helped to prevent a blood supply crisis	Australian Red Cross Blood Service	Blood Service PR Team	VIC	Highly Commended
	The Release of Peter Greste	Ogilvy Public Relations Australia	Ogilvy Public Relations Australia & Al Jazeera English	NSW	Winner
Public Affairs	Australia’s Future Submarine Project	Weber Shandwick Australia	Ava Lawler	NSW	Commended
	Helping #saveaHUSlives – Government funding secured for life-saving treatment for ultra-rare blood disease	VIVA! Communications	Kirsten Bruce	NSW	Commended
	Stamp’ of Approval – Winning Reform for Australia Post	Australia Post	Jessica Hudswell / Australia Post Corporate Affairs	NSW	Commended
Small Budget/Pro Bono	Introducing Sydney to the fine arts of the streets with #chalkurbanart	IMPACT Communications Australia	IMPACT Communications Australia	NSW	Commended
	“What’s Up With Mum?” – Explaining MS to Kids	LBPR Pty Ltd	Lisa Burling, Managing Director	NSW	Commended
	Queensland Community Foundation – Philanthropy Week 2015	Rowland	Helen Besly	QLD	Commended
	Dundee Beach Charity Golf Day	Creative Territory	Tracy Jones	NT	Highly Commended
	Women’s Legal Services – Dancing CEO’s	The Red Republic	Fleur Madden,  The Red Republic	QLD	Highly Commended
	RAPID Roadshow	P4 Group & HIV Foundation	P4 Group / HIV Foundation QLD	QLD	Highly Commended
	Kiss Goodbye to MS Campaign 2015	Cube & MS Research Australia	Anne-Marie Sparrow	NSW	Highly Commended
	Tackling Homophobia in Sport	Sydney Convicts Rugby Club	Erik Denison	NSW	Winner
Start Up	Launching an ‘Australian first’ challenger brand: RateSetter	Sefiani & Kite Communications	Robyn Sefiani	NSW	Commended
	Australia’s First Swim with Humpback Whales Experience	Reflected Image PRoductions	Michelle Smytheman	QLD	Highly Commended
Sustainability/Corporate Social Responsibility	Sailing Through Adversity: Biogen & Oceans of Hope ANZ	Palin Communications	Martin Palin	NSW	Commended
	McHappy Day NSW ACT 2014 # OurFamilyPromise	PPR	PPR & McDonald’s NSW/ACT	NSW	Commended
	SAMSUNG ADAPPT – Adappt for success: Encouraging young Aussies to design the change they want to see in the world.	Edelman	Edelman	NSW	Highly Commended
	Towards a more sustainable Victoria. Raising awareness of ‘ Love Food, Hate Waste’	icon.pr	Joanne Painter	VIC	Winner
PR Educator of the Year	Dr Melanie James	University of Newcastle	Dr Melanie James	NSW	Winner
Top sPRinters 2015	Erin Rigby	Cole Lawson Communications	Erin Rigby	QLD	Highly Commended
	Melanie Wellington	N2N Communications	Melanie Wellington	NSW	Highly Commended
	Emma Kershaw, Industry Promotions Officer, Dairy Australia	Dairy Australia	Emma Kershaw	VIC	Winner
In-House PR Team of the Year	Media & PR Team, NPS MedicineWise	NPS MedicineWise	Media & PR Team	NSW	Commended
	HBF Media & Communications Team	HBF Health Ltd	Andrew Walton	WA	Highly Commended
	Regatta Hotel	Regatta Hotel	Patrick Macdonald	QLD	Winner
Micro-Consultancy of the Year	LBPR Micro Consultancy of the Year	LBPR Pty Ltd	Lisa Burling – Managing Director	NSW	Highly Commended
Medium Consultancy of the Year	Sauce Communications: A Rural Success Story	Sauce Communications	Liane Sayer-Roberts	NSW	Highly Commended
Large Consultancy of the Year	N2N Communications	N2N Communications	Vanessa Liell	NSW	Commended
	PPR	PPR	Richard Lazar	NSW	Highly Commended
	Red Agency	Red Agency	James Wright	NSW	Winner
National President’s Award	Arthur Delbridge LFPRIA & Paul Rushton-Clarke MPRIA	Arthur Delbridge LFPRIA & Paul Rushton-Clarke MPRIA			Winners
National Campaign of the Year	Yellow Pages: RUOK? Covers Partnership	PR Edge	Fee Townshend	NSW	Winners
International Campaign of the Year	The Release of Peter Greste	Ogilvy Public Relations Australia & Al Jazeera English	Ogilvy Public Relations Australia	NSW	Winners