Message from the IPRA President: A joyful celebration of global PR excellence October 2026
1 hour, 10 minutes ago
The Golden World Awards Gala 2026 took place at the Hotel Grand Bretagne in Athens on 25 September 2026. Once again, we gathered to recognize and celebrate excellent and inspiring work in public relations practice over this past year.
A global event
There were award winners and members from all over the globe, including Latvia, Italy, Belgium, Saudi Arabia, Armenia, Austria, Singapore, Ukraine, Germany, Ghana, Nigeria, Türkiye, Bulgaria, Spain, Poland, Croatia, Hungary, Israel, Romania, Serbia, USA, Switzerland, UK and Greece.
Entries for the awards this year were received from over 50 countries, showing firstly, that IPRA is the most representative international association of public relations professionals in the world and secondly that the Golden World Awards are a much sought-after recognition among public relations practitioners the world over.
Demonstrating excellence
What has regularly struck me on these occasions is that great work is being done and we have much to learn from these examples of excellence.
This year saw many winners whose work either used, or touched on issues to do with, Artificial Intelligence. Clearly, public relations professionals are keeping pace with this fast-moving technology which now affects so much of our lives. It was no wonder that the Grand Prix this year went to Image Merchants Promotion of Nigeria for their entry, AI for Crisis Communication: From Study to Strategy, involving the use of AI to detect fake news and to pre-empt conflict through the spread of such fake news. This recourse to AI for ethical purposes is very much in line with IPRA’s Guidelines for AI in PR.
A good year for inhouse PR
Interestingly, this year saw a good number of winners from inhouse work in corporate and state organizations. The inhouse team of the Ministry of Culture in Saudi Arabia had a winning entry, entitled Al-Ahsa: Safeguarding Living Heritage, in the categories of Digital and Social Media Creativity and Integration of Traditional and Social Media. The inhouse team of Facile.it, the Italian online platform for comparing and promoting insurance, household utilities and finance products, had wins in a number of categories, including Consumer Product PR, with their Lost …and Never Found entry, while the National University of Singapore Yoong Loo Lin School of Medicine’s inhouse team won in the publications category with How to Live to 120, and in the corporate communications category with #Inspire 120: 120 years of NUS Medicine. The inhouse team of Maccabi Healthcare Services had a winning entry, Turning Data into National Impact, in the Healthcare category while, from the Philippines, the Megaworld Foundation’s inhouse team won in the Corporate Social Responsibility category with Eye Care Mission: A Gift of Vision. Dubai Police’s team won in the Gaming and Virtual Reality category with their From Play to Planet: Inspiring Climate Action, while the team of the South African bank, ABSA, won in the Industrials category for Mining Indaba 2026: Progress through Partnerships. Have a look at all the winning entries here.
Think to the future
Let me take the opportunity to encourage corporate bodies as well as state agencies to have members of their inhouse PR teams join IPRA and put forward their excellent work for future Golden World Awards.
There is a Special Prize given each year, the Global Contribution Award, which seeks to recognize PR work that promotes the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. The winner this year was V+O GREECE (part of the SEC Newgate Group), for ReStart and Kykloi by Priceless a social inclusion campaign in the food service industry for Mastercard in Greece.
The Golden World Awards Gala 2026 in Athens was a wonderful, fun-filled celebration of excellence in the practice of public relations. But let me congratulate all award winners once again and hope their success will inspire others to strive for professional excellence as we continue to work to improve the lives and wellbeing of humanity the world over.
Kind regards,
Esther Cobbah
IPRA President 2026
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