With categories spanning across specific CSR programmes, corporate sponsorships and communication strategies, the Corporate Engagement Awards 2021 ensure that excellence and innovation in all areas of corporate engagement have been celebrated.

Andrew Thomas, publisher of Communicate magazine and founder of the awards, says, “The last two years have been without precedent. We have all had to cope with new ways of engaging with the people, organisations and brands that touch our lives. Companies have also adjusted and the focus on reputation has become so important.”

Environmental campaigns were prevalent in this year’s awards, with WRAP, QSA Partners and Flourish CSR taking home gold for its initiative to improve sustainability within UK’s textile supply chains. Various targeted campaigns were also celebrated, including Bosh UK’s Project Pet campaign which won gold for humanising the brand to external stakeholders, and EDF who took home gold for the impressive transformation of its internal comms strategy.

This year’s Grand Prix was awarded to NSPCC and Deliveroo for their creative and impactful partnership which saw the alignment of two, otherwise unrelated companies, with the shared goal to help vulnerable children in the community.

“It is a record year for entries, and all of tonight’s winners should be proud of their achievements and of their ongoing commitments to their communities, internal and external, the environment and to society at large,” adds Thomas.

The awards ceremony and celebratory dinner took place tonight 9 November in Central London.

The complete list of winners for the Corporate Engagement Awards 2021 are as follows:

Best charity, NGO or NFP programme
Gold - Nominet and The Scouts Association
Silver – Alzheimer’s Society and Santander UK
Silver – KPMG UK and The NSPCC
Bronze- Astellas Pharma Europe Ltd
Bronze - The British Red Cross and Aviva
Highly Commended - LinkedIn and The Big Issue

Best educational programme
Gold – KPMG UK with National Numeracy and The Economist Educational Foundation
Gold - Young Citizens and FTI Consulting
Silver – Cisco UK & Ireland and Connectr
Bronze - National Literacy Trust, National Prison Radio, Feltham Young Offenders Institute and Audible
Highly Commended - Kal Ki Kaska and DP World
Highly Commended - LifeSkills created with Barclays and Hopscotch Consulting

Best environmental or sustainable programme
Gold - WRAP, QSA Partners and Flourish CSR
Silver - Hubbub and O2
Silver – wilko with ReWorked and Metrisk
Bronze – Barclays and Unreasonable
Highly Commended - Mastercard

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

Best sports and leisure programme
Gold - Her Majesty's Prison & Probation Service and Twinning Project
Silver - Rinat Akhmetov Foundation with FC Shakhtar, Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine

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

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

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

Best CSR activity or programme to support or develop a corporate reputation
Gold - Samsung UK, FutureLearn, B+A and Iris
Silver - Mastercard
Bronze - Commercial
Bronze - SUEZ recycling and recovery UK and Ad Art Design
Highly Commended - Hepsiburada and Unite Edelman

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

Best community involvement during a CSR programme
Gold - Zoom and The Scouts Association
Silver - Hubbub and O2
Bronze - IKEA and Edelman
Bronze - Takeda and Hill+Knowlton Strategies
Highly Commended - Barclays

Best engagement of an internal audience in a CSR programme.
Gold - Aviva
Silver - CBRE and Stickerbook
Bronze - NatWest Group
Highly Commended – SUEZ recycling and recovery UK

Best collaboration for a single event
Gold - The Estée Lauder Companies’ Breast Cancer Campaign (BCC) UK & Ireland
Silver – LinkedIn and The Big Issue
Bronze – DRPG and Woo Fest

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

Best foundation
Gold - Everton in the Community with Relish Liverpool and Creative Hut
Silver – The Aster Foundation
Bronze - Aviva Foundation
Highly Commended - Rinat Akhmetov Foundation

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

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

Best stakeholder communications
Gold - Bosch UK
Silver - Shell and Edelman

Best internal communications
Gold - EDF
Gold - Simplyhealth
Silver - Philip Morris International
Silver - Turkish Aerospace
Bronze - Publicis Sapient
Highly Commended – SUEZ recycling and recovery UK

Best PR and external communications
Gold – NSPCC and Deliveroo
Silver - McDonald's, The Football Association, Red Consultancy, Leo Burnett Sport + Entertainment and M&C Saatchi & Entertainment
Silver - Stay switched on - Internet Matters and Goldbug

Bronze - Find the Fake - Internet Matters and Goldbug
Highly Commended - Ford and WPP Ford Team

Best collaborative approach
Gold – NSPCC and Deliveroo
Silver - Unilever and the Hygiene and Behaviour Change Coalition Partners
Bronze – KPMG UK and National Literacy Trust
Highly Commended - Good Relations with Cavendish Advocacy and the Institute of Customer Service

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

Best management of a programme
Gold – KPMG UK and The NSPCC
Silver - Publicis Sapient

Best team effort during a programme
Gold - Barclays
Silver – Hubbub and O2

Grand Prix
NSPCC and Deliveroo