On its 48th, The Anvil of many “firsts”

By Lourdes S. de Guzman

The 48th Anvil Awards on March 6, 2013 went down in history as the Anvil of many “firsts”.

A record breaker in number of entries, it surpassed last year’s count of 283 by113 more, raising the benchmark to 396.

For the first time, this year, digital campaigns were recognized as a distinct category under PR Programs – on a sustained basis. Likewise, multimedia tools were grouped in a single Multimedia category under PR tools. The criteria for the Anvil’s highest honor, the Hall of Fame Award, were also defined and established.

It was also the first Anvil with Vishnu Mohan, chief executive officer of Havas Media, Asia Pacific, as chairman of the board of jurors. Mohan brought in and contributed his expertise and experience in traditional and digital media, as well as shared the benefits of a regional and global perspective in the judging process.

The board of jurors included information technology specialists, members of academe, bloggers and social media experts, specifically for the new categories of digital campaigns and multimedia tools.

The Anvil recognizes the role of communicators in organizations, in their projects which achieved PR objectives, showed evidence of significant and sustainable impact, and have been proven effective.

The 48th Anvil was the first with full television coverage, as well as live streaming at live.anvil.ph.

Bronze Anvil Awards went to Studio 5 Designs, Inc. (PR Tools – Publications), EON The Stakeholder Relations Firm (PR Tools – Special Events) and Sun Life Financial-Philippines (PR Tools – Multimedia). Petron Corporation was elevated to the Hall of Fame for its Vision Petron Collaterals, which won the Anvil Award of Excellence for the 7th time.