Effective communication between the government and the people is vital for the fruits of development and progress to reach the real stakeholders. She stressed that there is sufficient evidence that creative government communication experiences have resulted in successful resolution of social issues, both in the region as well as globally, said Jawaher Al Naqbi, Manager of International Government Communication Centre (IGCC), an initiative of the Sharjah Government Media Bureau (SGMB).

Al Naqbi added that many institutions have demonstrated creativity of high calibre in successfully communicating with the public despite the unique circumstances in those countries. She called on those institutions to apply for the Sharjah Government Communication Award (SGCA) to showcase their achievements and inspire others to advance their communication strategy to support the development and stability of societies.

Meanwhile, the International Government Communication Centre, the host, has announced that it will continue to receive applications for the seventh edition of the SGCA until January 2, 2020. Eight new award categories have been introduced in the upcoming edition.

New Award categories

Al Naqbi said: “The new categories as well as the existing ones that have been upgraded reflect our belief in the importance of government communications in determining the future of countries and institutions. The survival and success of government policies depend on effective public communications. There are many stories of institutions that could not survive due to the lack of proper communication and failure to convince the public of their importance and purpose.”

She added: “Today, government communication is a decisive factor in achieving goals agreed upon by countries and institutions. While tackling issues such as poverty, climate change or wastage of precious resources, we need powerful official communications from institutions to champion these causes and help bring about a change in individuals’ behaviour.”

Talking about SGCA’s new international categories, she said: “The communications revolution has transcended borders and cultures, and this includes government communications that tend to be exchanged between countries and influence each other. Therefore, we need to highlight the fact that government communications have global impact, ensure they contain no negative aspects that will adversely affect the people, and celebrate the successful examples.”

To highlight the global influence of government communication strategies, IGCC has introduced eight new categories in the seventh edition of SGCA.

Nomination by partner

The candidates for six of the new award categories must be nominated by their strategic partners. These include: ‘Best Press Photo on Government Communication’, which will be presented to a media professional or institution whose photograph or cartoon created a public impact or changed their behaviour towards a certain issue.

The ‘Best Use of Data’ will be awarded to an entity that has demonstrated the best use of data and data visualisation to convey information; the ‘Best Idea to Increase Engagements (Influence) of Future Generations’ Award will go to an entity or campaign team that demonstrated increase in engagement by audiences of Gen Z and younger generations; while the ‘Best initiative to Manage Fake News’ is awarded to entities that has successfully developed tools to analyse data and check fake news.

The ‘Best Youth Initiative in Government Communication (Arab World)’, is open to the youth (18 – 30 years old) who have launched an initiative, or a campaign related to government communication, whether in Arabic or English, observing the traditions and customs of society; while the ‘Best Use of New Technology’ award is for government organisations or bodies that have launched a smart application/video, or used new technology that helps support government communication and facilitates interacting with the target audience.

Nomination by judging panel

Candidates for the ‘‘Best Use of Partnerships’ category must be nominated by a judging panel. It will be awarded to an entity that has demonstrated the success of a campaign based on an innovative partnership between two parties or more.

Direct application

A direct application by the candidate will suffice for the ‘Best Media Programme that Made a Difference – (Arab World)’ category. It is awarded to a programme that made a positive social impact through social media or traditional media.

Updated categories

These include the ‘Best Government Social Media Engagement’ in the Arab region, which previously covered the GCC region only; the ‘Best Government Communication Campaign’ which had been open only to campaigns in the UAE and goes international this year.