Since launching in 2011, the Corporate Engagement Awards has honoured businesses that strive to be transparent and authentic in their corporate communications. The shortlist entries were judged by a panel of leading industry experts based in-house across sponsorship, partnership, CSR and sustainability roles.

Particularly through the pandemic, communicators have turned to meaningful brand partnerships, ESG programmes and charity alignments to ensure that corporate reputation remained robust and connected to its key stakeholders. As a result, the 2021 awards have seen an incredible calibre of entries across a variety of sectors and unique collaborations.

From the type of partnership including best charity, best educational programme and best environmental or sustainability programme, to sponsorship, audience and time specific categories, the Corporate Engagement Awards truly celebrates every aspect of corporate comms.

The winner of the Grand Prix award will be announced at the awards ceremony on 9 November in Central London. Last year’s Grand Prix award went to SuperValu and AsIAm- Autism Friendly Towns for its campaign to improve the shopping experience for families living with autism.

Join the celebration and reserve your table at the event on 9 November at the Brewery in Central London here.

The shortlist for the Corporate Engagement Awards 2021 is as follows:

Partnerships

Best charity, NGO or NFP programme
Alzheimer's Society and Santander UK
Astellas Pharma Europe Ltd
LinkedIn and The Big Issue
Nominet and The Scouts Association
KPMG UK and The NSPCC
The British Red Cross and Aviva

Best educational programme
Cisco UK & Ireland and MyKindaFuture
Kal Ki Kaska and DP World
LifeSkills created with Barclays and Hopscotch Consulting
National Literacy Trust, National Prison Radio, Feltham Young Offenders Institute and Audible
KMPG UK with National Numeracy and The Economist Educational Foundation
Young Citizens and FTI Consulting

Best environmental or sustainable programme
Barclays and Unreasonable
Hubbub and O2
Mastercard and Ketchum
wilko with ReWorked and Metrisk
WRAP, QSA Partners and Flourish CSR

Best pro-bono work for a charitable, social or ethical cause
DRPG and Woo Fest
FTI Consulting
Her Majesty’s Prison & Probation Service and Twinning Project
SoftServe Inc. with TripAdvisor, Rakuten Viber, UNICEF Ukraine and UNFPA in Ukraine

Best sports and leisure programme
Her Majesty’s Prison and Twinning
Rinat Akhmetov Foundation with FC Shakhtar, Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine

Best combined programme
ITV with Veg Power and Adam&EveDDB
Premiership Rugby HITZ with The CVC Foundation, Wooden Spoon and SCL Education Group

Sponsorship

Best sponsorship activity to support or develop a corporate reputation
Heineken and Edelman
INFUSEmedia

Most effective sponsorship of a single event
Macmillan Cancer Support and Marks and Spencer

Corporate social responsibility

Best CSR activity/programme to support or develop a corporate reputation
Commercial
Hepsiburada and Unite Edelman
Mastercard and Ketchum
Samsung UK, FutureLearn, B+A and Iris
SUEZ recycling and recovery UK and Ad Art Design

Best alignment of brand values during a CSR programme
Poundland with Make-A-Wish UK, Tommy’s and Whizz-Kidz
SUEZ recycling and recovery UK and Ad Art Design
The British Red Cross and Aviva
Tideway with Thames 21 and London Youth Rowing

Best community involvement during a CSR programme
Barclays
Hubbub and O2
IKEA and Edelman
Takeda and Hill+Knowlton Strategies
Zoom and The Scouts Association

Best engagement of an internal audience in a CSR programme.
Aviva
CBRE and Stickerbook
FTI Consulting
Howdens and DRPG
NatWest Group
SUEZ recycling and recovery UK
Turkish Aerospace

Best collaboration for a single event
DRPG and Woo Fest
LinkedIn, Big Issue and Fight Flight
The Estée Lauder Companies’ Breast Cancer Campaign (BCC) UK & Ireland

Most innovative collaboration
Barclays
Battersea and the King game Pet Rescue Saga
Poundland with Make-A-Wish UK, Tommy’s and Whizz-Kidz
Takeda and Hill-Knowlton Strategies
Yorkshire Building Society and End Youth Homelessness

Best foundation
Aster Housing Group and Aster Foundation
Aviva Foundation
Relish Liverpool, Creative Hut and Everton in the Community
Rinat Akhmetov Foundation with FC Shakhtar, Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine

Time

Most effective one-off campaign
NSPCC and Calpol
ITV with Mind, YoungMinds, SAMH, CALM and Uncommon Creative Studios
National Emergencies Trust (NET) and NatWest Group

Most effective long-term commitment
NSPCC and Blakemore Retail
LifeSkills created with Barclays and Hopscotch Consulting
KPMG UK and National Literacy Trust
Premiership Rugby and Gallagher UK (AJG)
Skateistan and The Skateroom
SUEZ recycling and recovery UK and Greater Manchester Combined Authority

Communication

Best stakeholder communications
Bosch UK
Shell and Edelman

Best internal communications
EDF
Philip Morris International
Publicis Sapient
Simplyhealth
SUEZ recycling and recovery UK
Turkish Aerospace

Best PR and external communications
NSPCC and Deliveroo
Find the Fake - Internet Matters and Goldbug
Ford and WPP Ford Team
Stay switched on - Internet Matters and Goldbug
McDonald’s, The Football Association, Red Consultancy, Leo Burnett, M&C Saatchi and Entertainment

Process

Best collaborative approach
Good Relations, Cavendish Advocacy and the Institute of Customer Service
KPMG UK and National Literacy Trust
NSPCC and Deliveroo
Unilever and the Hygiene and Behaviour Change Coalition Partners

Best execution
DRPG and Woo Fest
Good Relations, Cavendish Advocacy and The Institute of Customer Service
Ikigai Laboratorio Social and DP World
Visionpath and Hitachi Capital UK PLC

Best management of a programme
KPMG UK and the NSPCC
Publicis Sapient

Best team effort during a programme
Barclays
Hubbub and O2

The Grand prix winner will be announced at the gala dinner on 9 November.