Portuguese companies shine in European awards

By Sandro Rego

The year ends with great news for the Portuguese communication market. 2019 had a series of awards and recognitions for professionals and companies in Portugal and Europe. I have listed the most significant awards this year and their winners.

The FEIEA Grand Prix pan-European jury, promoted by the European Association of Internal Communication, recognized the best practices of seven projects competing in the 2019 edition. Ageas, EDP, and Galp were the companies that reached the final phase of this competition with nine European countries.

Portuguese companies were also recognized at the Best Event Awards 2019, a competition promoted by BEA World Festival. In all, Portugal got four awards, three silver and one gold. Worten, Lisbon Coffee Fest, and EDP were the recognized brands. In the case of the Golden Award, Worten was the big winner in the “Brand Activation” category, with the Worten Game Ring – Unbox the Best of Lisbon Games Week. The first edition of the Lisbon Coffee Fest won second place in the “Festival” category. Developed by Up Partner, the event is an initiative of AICC – Coffee Industrial and Commercial Association. Finally, EDP won two Silver Awards in the “Sustainable Innovation” and “Use of Technology” categories. In both cases, the outstanding work was “Transforming Music Festivals.”

The Young Creative Integrated Eurobest Competition was another European award in which the Portuguese shone. The duo Joao Araujo (from Havas) and Wilmer Carvalho (from comOn) were the young creative winners over professionals from 20 competing countries.

The seventh edition of the M&P Communication Awards, promoted by the publication Meios & Advertising, one of the most important in the sector in Portugal, also revealed its winners. The grand prize went to the Koala Rest – Dream Job project, developed by Corpcom for the online mattress brand Koala. Corpcom also received the Agency of the Year trophy for being the most awarded. Galp, an APCE (Portuguese Association of Company Communication) associate, was elected Company of the Year.

Sandro Rego is CEO of Priori, a communications agency in Portugal dedicated to social impact causes and projects. He was general manager of FleishmanHillard agency and communications executive at Banco Safra, Boticário Group, Bunge, and Companhia Siderúrgica Nacional (CSN). He was “Communicator of the Year” at the Aberje 2014 Award. He currently lives in Portugal and is the editor of BRpr’s “Also in Portuguese” section.