SMART Gets 9 Anvil Awards

Leading wireless services provider Smart Communications, Inc. bagged the most number of awards – with nine citations – at the recent 43rd Anvil Awards, dubbed the “Oscar” of Public Relations. The awarding program was held last Feb. 15, at the Grand Ballroom, Hotel Intercontinental, Manila. Parent firm Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) likewise received the Excellence Award for the PLDT Annual Report, themed Enabling the Nation.

SMART garnered six (6) Excellence Awards and three (3) Merit. Awards of Excellence given to Ahoy Pinoy, the Global Access Group’s magazine for seafarers; the Smart Wireless Engineering Education Program (SWEEP), SMART’s CSR program for ECE students; Project Nakar Phase II, the housing and livelihood program for residents of Brgy. Banglos in General Nakar, Quezon; SMART Cares, an environmental awareness campaign for employees; and two audio visual presentations, Dap-ayan sa Banglos; and SMART is SERVICE an internal employee volunteerism campaign.

Awards of Merit were given to the new SMART website; Broadbanding Education: SWEEP and Smart Schools Program; and to the Smart Communities Program, the umbrella community service and employee volunteerism program of SMART. Established in 1963, the Anvil Awards is organized annually by the Public Relations Society of the Philippines (PRSP).

Awards are given to PR groups that demonstrated integrity, excellence, and concern for the public interest in their programs and tools. The 43nd Anvil Awards committee received over 200 entries. The distinguished board of jurors was chaired by Health Secretary Francisco Duque III. Judges included PR practitioners across industries, corporate executives and academicians. /MP