Working hard and seeing great results as a team is a reward in itself, but there’s something extra special about being recognized by your peers. This has definitely been a banner year for Mickelson Consulting. Our team won two, IABC Gold Quill Awards of Excellence as well as IABC Silver Leaf Awards for the same communication campaigns. Then, to top it off, we were thrilled to learn that we were further recognized for our success when we were named the 2024 IABC Boutique Agency of the Year.

For more than 40 years, IABC’s Gold Quill Awards have recognized and awarded excellence in strategic communication worldwide. The Gold Quill Awards honour the dedication, innovation and passion of communicators on a global scale with a focus on achieving solid business outcomes. To select the 2024 winners, blue-ribbon panels of judges from around the world reviewed 378 entries from 17 countries and evaluated the submissions at 9 global sites. IABC issued 87 Awards of Merit and 43 Awards of Excellence across 29 categories this year. Nine countries are represented among the winners, which come from a cross-section of public and private sector organizations, both large and small. 

The Mickelson Consulting team – including a group of subcontractors and staff at the City of Richmond – won its awards in the “Public Sector/Government Communications” category. There were only four Awards of Excellence issued in this category – two of them for our team’s campaigns. Our success is definitely thanks to the amazing team that worked together to plan and deliver community engagement campaigns for the City of Richmond’s new single-use plastic ban bylaw and its Rethink Waste Think Tank and Ideas Hub.

IABC’s awards programs are symbols of excellence in strategic communication recognizing smart thinking, flawless execution and proven results. Whether policy-based or marketing-driven, award winners deliver meaningful work that contributes to business results and aligns to IABC’s Global Standard to ensure consistency and credibility resulting in building the reputation of the communication profession.

The Global Standard is defined by communication professionals around the world embracing a shared career purpose and six core principles as the building blocks of their work. Informed by a passion for engaging audiences with strategic communication, the purpose and Principles focus our work and form a global standard. Applying that standard enables us to cross all borders, align with diverse cultures and effectively serve organizations of all types and sizes.

All IABC Gold Quill Award entries are evaluated by international professional communicators with more than 10 years of experience. The majority of evaluators have earned Gold Quill Awards. Many are either IABC accredited or certified by the Global Communication Certification Council. And, all are trained to evaluate entries against established criteria aligned to IABC’s Global Standard of the communication profession.

Each entry is scored independently by two evaluators, who reconcile scores together at Blue Ribbon Panels held face-to-face in multiple locations around the world or virtually.

Since 2008, more than 5,000 projects have been entered in the Gold Quill Awards. The IABC Gold Quill Awards program recognizes business communication excellence globally, and is acknowledged as one of the most prestigious awards programs in the industry.

About IABC: The International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) is the recognized global community of communication professionals representing diverse industries and disciplines. We connect communicators with a global and local network, career opportunities, resources and knowledge – using communication to engage, influence, counsel and execute. At the forefront of the communication profession and setting the global standard, our members are professionals who practice with integrity and passion. For more information, visit http://www.iabc.com.