Leeds Beckett University - City Campus,
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Claire Mascall PR Prize winner announced 5th February 2014
The prize, open to all Public Relations students at Leeds Metropolitan, involved submitting a letter addressed to Prime Minister David Cameron, analysing the success of the London Paralympic Games and discussing how the success of the Games could be used to change attitudes towards disability in the UK.
Madeline fought off stiff competition from several other students to claim her prize of £1,000 and a two week placement at The London Stock Exchange, working alongside LSE's Corporate Communications team .
Speaking about the winning entry, judge Christine Mortimer said: "Although the medium of a letter may seem a little out of date in an age of getting your message across in 140 characters or less, we have found that we are increasingly writing 'letters to the editor' to get our clients press coverage, so this assignment is very relevant in PR today.
"The winning entry was selected because she clearly wrote a well-structured argument. addressing the wider brief of attitudes to disability in the UK and placed less emphasis on attitudes towards disabled sports."
First year PR students, Bethany Simpson and Rochelle Whittaker, are joint runners-up and will both receive a £500 prize and weeklong placements at MCG PR and Quest PR Harrogate respectively.
The prize winners were announced at a function attended by award sponsor Graham Rimmer, Keith Loudon, senior partner at Redmayne-Bentley, University PR lecturers and shortlisted students.
Graham Rimmer bestowed the annual prize in memory of his late wife Claire Mascall, who was a pioneering woman in the field of PR. Tributes to Claire also came from Keith Loudon, Senior Partner at Redmayne-Bentley, who describe Claire simply as 'an inspiration' and Christine Mortimer, co-founder of award winning PR agency MCG PR, who was one of three award judges.
Joining Christine on the panel of judges former Chair of the Yorkshire and Lincolnshire group of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations, Carol Arthur, who is Senior Account Director at Quest PR in Harrogate.
The judges were looking for creative and concise submissions that demonstrated a wide understanding of the attitudes to disability in the UK and the legacy of the London Paralympics together with high quality discussion, contemporary views, creativity and clear recommendations made based on sound industry research and analysis.