Tag: IABC

Digital communication award memorably delivered by mail amid COVID-19

A digital communication project led by Pinch Yourself Communication has been recognised with a Bronze Quill Award in 2020 by the Victorian chapter of the International Association of Business Communication.

It’s a mark of our socially distant and disrupted year that the award was conferred by mail in recent weeks due to COVID-19 restrictions. Our thanks to IABC Victoria for their significant effort to ensure winners received the recognition they deserved despite challenging times.

The project for which Pinch Yourself Communication was recognised – with both a Gold Quill and Bronze Quill in 2020 – was delivered for a wonderful non-profit organisation that’s also been grounded by the pandemic this year.

Our Bronze Quill award was presented for the Fearless Flyers digital hub, an integrated digital and social media strategy and channels including a new website: fearlessflyers.com.au, developed in partnership with our Fearless colleague Vicki Huggins. This has given Fearless Flyers a low-cost, resource-effective way to connect with potential new clients and foster a community among inspirational course graduates, backed by the digital processing of bookings and payments.

The Bronze and Gold Quill Awards are presented annually by the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) in recognition of communication excellence.

We hope circumstances will enable our pro bono client Fearless Flyers to find their wings again soon and in the meantime, we send our best wishes to all their volunteers and to everyone in the aviation sector who continues to do it tough due to COVID-19 impacts.

It’s been a year that has also mobilised and tested the communication profession globally, and as communicators rose to meet those challenges and help people navigate uncertainty, isolation and change, they have undoubtedly laid down the foundations for some stellar entries for the next Gold Quill awards.

All the best to all our fellow communication professionals who are working on their Gold Quill entries over the next month and congratulations to all our fellow winners for 2020 – Bronze and Gold – from here in Victoria and right around the world.

These awards reflect a standard of innovation, impact and excellence in communication that makes a real difference for our profession, for the organisations with which we work and for our communities.

Gold Quill Award recognition for our Fearless work

Pinch Yourself Communication’s Mairi Barton has been recognised on the global stage today with a Gold Quill Award in 2020 for her pro bono work with client Fearless Flyers Inc.

We are delighted to share this honour with our Fearless colleague Vicki Huggins – a dedicated and skilled volunteer, communicator and stakeholder manager – and all the aviation expert volunteers who make Fearless Flyers so special.

Fearless Flyers is a non-profit organisation staffed by expert aviation sector volunteers and we’re proud to contribute to their mission to help people overcome their fear and enjoy the freedom of air travel.

You can learn more about their great work at: fearlessflyers.com.au – including the history of the inspirational female aviators, such as Nancy-Bird Walton, who helped pioneer the organisation’s courses.

It’s a bittersweet time for this award given the disruption to the aviation sector, with so many aviation companies and workers facing uncertainty, and Fearless courses on hold for now. We will get through this and Fearless will get back to helping people overcome their fear of flying.

The Gold Quill Awards are presented annually by the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) in recognition of communication excellence.

Gold Quill Award: Website – Fearless Flyers Digital Hub

Our award was presented for the Fearless Flyers digital hub – an integrated digital and social media strategy and channels including a new website. This has given Fearless Flyers a low-cost, resource-effective way to connect with potential new clients, foster a community among course graduates, and process bookings and payments.

It is an honour once again for Pinch Yourself Communication, and another of our wonderful clients, to be recognized among so many outstanding communication professionals and organisations globally.

Congratulations to all the winners, including all those from here in Victoria!

The importance of self care for communication professionals

March 2020

In a world prior to the disruption and devastation of the coronavirus (COVID-19), this week Pinch Yourself Communication’s Mairi Barton was due to present on mental health communication at IABC Asia Pacific’s Fusion 20 conference in Wellington, New Zealand.

This heart graphic is one Mairi planned to share as part of a conversation about the known mental health impacts for business communication professionals from being at the frontline of crisis and issues management. The research findings related to the mental health of communication and other creative professionals from the United Kingdom (2019) and Australia (2018) are significant cause for concern.

‘You can’t help others if you don’t look after yourself.’

This message of self care feels more relevant than ever as communication practitioners – and other professions and trades, none more so than health and emergency services staff – work tirelessly across the globe in response to this unprecedented and rapidly-evolving pandemic and its health, and economic impacts.

Strategic communication plays a key role in helping organisations to plan and manage through a crisis, and there’s no doubt communication folks are working their hearts out right now.

Please look after yourself both physically and mentally, which we know are intrinsically linked. beyondblue, an Australian independent non-profit organisation working to address issues associated with mental health, has some simple tips on staying well.

At times like these communication practitioners – and other members of staff – rightly get swept up supporting our organisations and ensuring management, staff and stakeholders have what they need.

But you can’t maintain that, if you don’t look after yourself. Stay safe and well.

A promotional tile for the Fusion conference, which has been postponed to February 2021

Our work recognised with Bronze Quill Awards for communication excellence

Our work to help build stronger community engagement and internal communication for Ambulance Victoria was last night recognised by the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) Victoria with two Bronze Quill Awards for 2019.

The two pieces of work have previously been recognised with IABC international Gold Quill Awards for 2019.

The two Bronze Quills were awarded for:

  • The Better Together program.

When we set out at Ambulance Victoria to improve community engagement we never looked at it as a one-off communication and engagement campaign.

Backed by real commitment from the leadership, we were given the freedom to develop a new model for community and stakeholder engagement, working to fundamentally shift the way the organisation used community insight and participation to plan and manage its business, and meet local and diverse needs.

It’s wonderful to know that our efforts to give the community a greater say in their ambulance service will contribute to better patient experiences and better health outcomes for Victorians.” Mairi Barton

  • The 30 Years of Women in Ambulance commemorative album.

The first female paramedics permitted to work in Victoria arrived for duty in an all-male ambulance workforce in 1987 and paved the way for many women who have served since.

The courage and resilience shown by pioneering female paramedics Andrea Wyatt, Pat Richards, Mel Buckingham and Georgie Hall in pursuing their career dreams is truly inspirational and the history of these first female paramedics has been preserved in a commemorative album.

“It was an honour to help share the stories of women in ambulance to celebrate their significant contribution, show how far we’ve come and to open a conversation about the work that’s left to do to create a gender-balanced workplace.” Mairi Barton

Last night’s gala dinner in Melbourne also commemorated the 20th anniversary of IABC Victoria. Pinch Yourself Communication acknowledges the outstanding contribution to developing our communication profession by IABC Victoria over the past two decades and congratulates all the outstanding Bronze Quill recipients recognised last night.

Thank you to Ambulance Victoria for the opportunity to contribute to their important work and congratulations to former Executive Director Communications and Stakeholder Engagement Kate Bradstreet on a total of three Bronze Quill Awards in 2019 for communication projects at Ambulance Victoria.