The Bulgarian Association of PR Agencies (BAPRA) has presented the winners of its first annual “Bright Awards” at a glamorous ceremony at the Sofia Sheraton Hotel Balkan.

A total of 22 Bulgarian public relations agencies competed in the six categories of the first edition of the BAPRA “Bright Awards” by submitting a total of 59 projects. The jury evaluating the tough race consisted entirely of foreign experts.

Publicis Marc Group triumphed with the prize for “PR Agency of the Year”; the same agency also won the first place in the “Sustainable Development Campaign” category.

All Channels Communications grabbed two first prizes – for “Innovative Campaign” and “Communications Campaign of the Year”.

The PR department of the Bulgarian mobile phones operator Globul came in first in the “Campaign Realized by an Internal Department” category, whereas InterImage was the winner for a “Special Event”.

All winners received certificates and specially designed statuettes. Among the people who announced the winners and presented the awards were former Bulgarian Foreign Minister Solomon Passy, Chair of the Bulgarian Business Leaders Forum Maria Shishkova, Chiar of the Bulgarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry Tsvetan Simeonov, and the head of the Romanian Public Relations Association, Teodor Frolu.

“I evaluate this competition as a great success. Most of the participants are actually not members of the BAPRA. The jury did its job in a perfect way. These are some really busy people managing big businesses, and the fact that they managed to dedicate some of their time in order to evaluate 59 projects speaks about the international standing of the Bulgarian Association of PR Agencies,” stated the BAPRA Chair, Maxim Behar.

Behar called upon all PR agencies in Bulgaria to adhere to the professional standards of fair competition and to be good friends.

The BAPRA Bright Awards jury is chaired by the world farmous PR guru with a 20-year experience from the USA, Paul Holmes, founder of The Holmes Report.

The other international experts that BAPRA brought to Bulgaria are Richard Houghton from the UK, Chair of the International Communications Consultancy Organization; Bozo Skoko from Croatia, Professor of PR in the Zagreb University and the founder of a leading Croatian PR agency; and chairmen of national PR associations - Pawe? Trochimiuk, President of the Polish PR Consultancies Association; Salvador da Cunha, Chairman of the Portuguese Association of Communications and Public Relations; Peter Szeles, head of the Hungarian Public Relations Association; and Teodor Frolu, head of the Romanian Public Relations Association.

The main criteria for awarding the prizes are explicitly based on innovation and achieviment of the goals set by the clients.

The Bulgarian Association of PR Agencies was founded in 2001. Its members subscribe to an Ethics Code focused on guaranteeing transparency, honesty, professionalism, and loyalty to clients and colleagues.

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