CorpComms Magazine

Has scooping the best CSR Strategy award gone to Jessica Green's head? Having been announced as the first of a pair of joint winners, Royal Liver Assurance's corporate affairs assistant came up on stage to collect the Perspex and pose for snaps with compere Stephen K Amos and MHP director, Andrew Nicolls. Emboldened by their triumph, Green smiled sweetly at the camera while (in full view of guests sitting on the left hand side of the room) optimistically helping herself to a generous handful of Nicolls' pert backside. Steady on, luv!

I'LL NOW address the question on the tip of the spinning industry's dextrous tongue: did Chris Addison bottle it? As we all know by now, the would-be host of the 2010 CorpComms Awards was a late no-show on the night - leaving the willing and (avail)able Steven K Amos to fill the communications void, as guests wondered if Addison had been tipped off about previous CorpComms hosts.

The list of recent comperes includes 2007 announcer, Frankie Boyle, who immediately developed a habit of uttering phrases prompting licence payers to write to the BBC en masse; and then in 2009 Jason Manford, whose problems with written correspondence go in the entirely opposite direction.

Still, by luck, the 2010 event surely ended up with the most apt host in the history of PR award compering. Stephen K Amos, you see, is an anagram of 'The Spokesman'.

FOR SOME REASON, Amos doesn't like Leicester (where he once performed), particularly its tagline 'A city of surprises' (admittedly pushing it a touch, even for a room full of spinners). But the city of Walkers Crisps, Richard and David Attenborough and the A46 certainly seemed to throw the compere one curve ball. NHS Leicester City entered its hard-hitting teenage pregnancy campaign (seemingly in every category) and apart from putting a few guests off their chocolate mousse, it scooped three gongs. Would Amos have predicted that, I wonder?

INCIDENTALLY, NHS Leicester City secured its hat-trick for a campaign that helped cut teenage pregnancy rates by 24.8 per cent. Might they now be readying themselves to launch a similar film dealing with an upturn in unwanted gestations in the city? Super shagger Sven Goran Eriksson is now in town.

THE AWARD for the best effort for simply showing up must go to Steven Mitchell, managing director of creative agency Tayburn. On his way to The Troxy he got hit by a car, but still got to the event, albeit arriving late. Even so, he beat Addison.

MUCH CHORTLING among the presentation team as they doled out the Young Achiever Award gongs where Soldier Magazine's Stephen Tyler was highly commended. Unfortunately Stephen went AWOL on the night and his award was picked up by another member of his troop, Andy Timms. But why the giggling? Timms revealed to Amos that Tyler has now left the company. About turn.

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