Two public relations student have been short-listed for a national Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR) award.

Sarah Burnham, a second year BA (Hons) Public Relations and Business student and first year PR student Nathaniel Southworth-Barlow, were short-listed for the Pitch award which is run by the CIPR.

It is the first year of the competition which invites students to deliver their “perfect pitch” for a chance to win a summer internship with a leading PR firm.

Entrants were asked to select a brief from a choice of five PR sectors and write a two page summary. Sarah’s pitch on crisis PR and Nathaniel’s on charity PR were good enough to catch the eye of the judges and they were invited to the CIPR headquarters to present their pitch’s to a panel of CIPR representatives and PR practitioners.

Obvious choice

Sarah said: “My brief was entitled ‘Helping Premier protect its reputation’ and I had to summarise the strategic approaches, response options, key messages and communication actions for the company. I’m really interested in crisis PR so this was an obvious choice for me.”

Nathaniel’s pitch choice was also one he has a great interest in as he already volunteers for Barnardo’s. He had to recommend an intergrated communication strategy for a new charity after three existing charities merged together to create Grooms-Shaftsbury.

He said: “I feel I have a greater understanding of the specific needs a charity requires.”

They had to build on their summaries and come up with a 20 minute presentation to pitch to the judging panel. The award is open to anyone enrolled on a CIPR course and both said they are really pleased that they have made the short-list.

Sarah said: “I’ve put a lot of work into this and I think getting to this stage means it has paid off. I would’ve been really disappointed if I hadn’t made it and I’m looking forward to presenting my ideas.”

Speaking after the event Nathaniel said: “I had my hopes but actually knowing I’d been chosen was something else. The extra work I had to do for the presentation itself proved a lot tougher than the actual pitch though. If you can latch onto an idea, then you can sell a pitch, but putting all the behind the scenes work into expanding those ideas is the hard part.”

Nathaniel is still in the early stage of his PR course and is keeping his career options open but is currently leaning towards in-house PR. Both students have yet to find out who won in each category.

Nathaniel added: “I think you have to try these things out and go with the flow. Even if I hadn’t gotten short-listed this year, there’d always be next year and I’d probably have come at it again with a bit more experience under my belt.”

Sarah said the main reason she entered the award was the chance of a summer internship.

“Long term I would like to work in corporate communications so to have work experience at a big PR firm would be a great bonus. Whatever happens, visiting the CIPR headquarters and getting feedback from industry professionals is a great experience.”

Mary Welch, senior lecturer in applied communication said: “I am delighted they students were short-listed for the national CIPR Student Award 2008. They have done really well to get to this stage of the competition.

“Sarah’s pitch centres on crisis communication strategy. Our students study the theory and practice of crisis communication on my second year Public Relations in Context module. It is pleasing to see knowledge gained in Sarah’s studies receiving national recognition.”

More info
BA (Hons) Public Relations
Combined honours Public Relations
Chartered Institute of Public Relations – The Pitch

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