BASF emerged as the clear winners at The Investor Relations Society annual IR Best Practice awards, held in London last night, 24 November 2010.

The IR Best Practice awards, now in its 10th year, was created to encourage and reward best practice in investor communications through the printed annual report and corporate web site. The 2010 awards had attracted entries from 115 companies, which were judged by a panel that included John Dawson from the Investor Relations Society, Stephen Haddrill from the Financial Reporting Council and Alison Smith from the Financial Times.

Whilst the retail sector seemed to be very popular amongst the judges, with winners on the night coming from Marks and Spencer, Morrisons and New Look, it was BASF, whose online annual report was created by online reporting specialist firm Nexxar, who stole the show, with IR manager Andrea Wentscher making four trips to the stage to receive trophies.

According to John Dawson, Deputy Chairman of the IR Society and Chairman of the Best Practice Committee, competition was particularly fierce ‘This year we have seen many more companies raise their game”

The full list of winners is: