Public relations professionals across East Anglia have received recognition in the regional round of the 2015 PRide Awards.

The Chartered Institute of Public Relations event for the Anglia, Thames and Chiltern region was staged this year at Homerton College, Cambridge, with writer-turned-comedian Ian Hawkins hosting the presentation ceremony.

Featuring prominently among the winners was the in-house PR team at Essex County Council which received two Gold awards and shared in a Silver with Essex Police.

The council won Gold in the Community Relations Campaign category for “Be Sure at the Door”, a campaign to combat rogue traders, and in the Arts, Culture or Sport Campaign category, for “Essex Tour de France”, a wide-ranging PR initiative surrounding the visit to the county by the Tour de France cycle race.

A joint campaign by the county council and Essex Police, “Standing Together Against Domestic Abuse”, received a Silver award in the Public Sector Campaign Category.

And the authority was also among the finalists in two other categories, including Corporate and Business Communications Campaign, for “Essex Means Business”, and Outstanding Young Communicator, with team member Lucy Dickinson nominated for work on the “Superfast Essex” campaign.

The Public Sector Campaign category was won by Norfolk and Suffolk Constabularies for “David’s Story”, a road safety campaign which featured headcam footage recorded by a motoryclist of a collision which claimed his life on the A47 in June 2013.

Other Gold award winners from Suffolk and Essex included Big Wave PR from Ardleigh, near Colchester, and Chelmsford City Council in the Consumer Relations Campaign category, for “Hylands Estate: Promoting the Big Day”, a campaign promoting the council’s Hylands House and Estate as a wedding venue, and Prominent PR from Ipswich, in the Low Budget Campaign category for a campaign to boost brand awareness of Ipswich-based online company records management business Inform Direct.

There were two Silver awards for Felixstowe-based PR company Pier, in the Integrated Campaign category for “Take 5 and Make a Difference”, for Kerry Foods’ LowLow frozen ready meals, and in the Outstanding Small Public Relations Consultancy category. Pier was also nominated in the Consumer Relations Campaign category for “Take 5”.

Also among the finalists was Montage Communications from Bury St Edmunds which was nominated in the Consumer Relations Campaign category, for “Trash in Style!”, launching a design collaboration between Brabantia and Orla Kiely, and in the Outstanding Small Public Relations Consultancy category.