22-29 - Communiqué Awards 2021

The hard work and dedication of healthcare comms agencies, charities and healthcare communicators was celebrated at the annual Communiqué Awards on 1 September, held in person for the first time since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The awards ceremony, run each year by PME’s parent company Datateam, returned to the London Grosvenor House Hotel as professionals gathered face-to-face for the live event – with COVID-19 safety measures ensuring the well-being of all guests.

For the 2021 awards, 30 categories spanning across healthcare communications, medical affairs as well as individual, team and company awards, recognised the standout work and contributions from across the industry.

This included three new awards, including Excellence in Medical Affairs – Operations, which was won by Lucid Group for Gilead, and the Agility and Flexibility Award, taken home by Dovetail for IBD Registry.
In the individual, team and company awards, another category had its debut this year – the Leadership Award for Action on Workforce Diversity and Inclusion.

The winners of this new award were McCann Health Medical Communications for its ‘D&I in Our DNA’ submission.

According to the judges, ‘McCann Health Medical demonstrated a fundamental belief in the value of D&I to their leaders, employees, clients, partners and society at large’.

Professor Jonathan Van-Tam, Deputy Chief Medical Officer for England, also accepted the Healthcare Communications Award to a standing ovation from the crowd.

Van-Tam has been described as ‘the most trusted face of the COVID-19 pandemic in Britain’ and the ‘perfect example of how to do public health communications’ – these testimonials were clearly reflected by the audience’s overwhelming reaction to his win on the night.

The highly coveted Communiqué Medical Affairs Agency of the Year and Communiqué Communications Consultancy of the Year were awarded to Oxford PharmaGenesis and Evoke KYNE respectively.

Commenting on the success of the night, Debbie Tuesley, Communiqué Awards Director said: “It was great to return for the first in-person Communiqué Awards since the outbreak of the pandemic in 2020. The level of work submitted this year was exceptionally high, reflecting the outstanding dedication of all those working across medical affairs and healthcare communications. Well done again to all the winners, highly commended and finalists for continuing to shine during an unprecedented period!”