The Clarion Awards, whose 13th annual event took place last Friday, 7 October, was this year located at the coveted Seven Dials, Covent Garden. The awards benchmark purposeful communications in CSR, diversity, community development, health, education and welfare issues, for the corporate, charitable, public and social enterprise sectors.

An event put on by the Event and Visual Communication Association (EVCOM), each year the Clarion Awards recognise excellence in visual communications with an ethical purpose.

This year’s ceremony was hosted by Sam Wilson, director of EcoEvents, event ISO and board director at EVCOM Board. Speaking about the ethical and sustainable angle to the awards, Wilson says, “The Clarions was everything it set out to be and more. A celebration of pioneering leadership by organisations that demonstrate unequivocally the tangible business benefits of ‘doing good’.”

Wilson continues, “It was an honour to work with the people behind EVCOM and all those who contributed to the event who made the following possible: sourcing a community venue whose mission is to connect local people, having 91% of attendees travelling by public transport or walking to the event, zero printed promotional materials, cakes baked by local resident, cheese sourced from local family-run dairy, water jugs, reusable consumables and zero food waste, work experience provided for events management student, sustainable trophies made from wood from a sustainable forest and interpreters for hearing impaired attendees.”

Among the top winners this year was EdComs, a communications and marketing agency which specialises in education.

Leaving with two gold awards for its work with clients KPMG and Boots, EdComs faced strong competition from a year with one of the highest amount of entries on record. The agency also added one silver, two bronze and three highly commended trophies to its assorted accolades, from a variety of projects. This included recognition for its Paralympics GB Rio 2016 Torch Tour, which saw EdComs take the Paralympic Torch to 100 British primary schools and teach children about sportsmanship and Paralympic values.

CSR and communications-based video production company PSONA Films also scooped a silver award and a highly commendation accolade, thanks to its work for BP’s ‘Energy Within’ campaign.

Continuing the Paralympic theme, the films focused on the achievements of disabled athletes. They also aim to promote diversity and inclusion in sport. Katy Eyre, managing director of PSONA Films commented: “The Clarions have long been recognised as a strong endorsement for high quality communications within the areas of sustainability and diversity.”

She says, “Accolades such as this are treasured by our team and are a validation of just how special this whole campaign was.”

For a full list of winners, visit the Clarion Awards website and follow #EVCOMClarions16 on Twitter.