Strategic Global Awards: A Lighthouse that Moves Comms Forward

By Mike Klein and Orla Clancy 

Why has Strategic launched an awards program?

Awards programs have a lot of benefits: they provide valued recognition, they challenge communication teams to reflect on and revisit the logic behind what they consider their best work.  And they can provide an additional revenue stream for the organizations that run them.

But our primary motivation is different. As a platform for communication leadership, we want to do a lot more with our award entries than other communication awards programs are doing.

As professional communicators, we spend our careers and much of our lives advancing and celebrating the profiles of others. Yes, for sure, these awards are an opportunity to reflect on your own accomplishments, and acknowledge and celebrate your own wins. But, it’s more than that. During a breakout session at the Communication Leadership Summit in Brussels in September, Orla said to Ed Davis, Managing Partner, Agency X, that “PR needs PR”. His response? “PR needs marketing”. This was a lightbulb moment for us, and we wanted to do something about it. 

We want to showcase you, our talented and successful community members, because when was the last time you did this for yourself? 

We want to shine a light on not only the great pieces of individual work, but to look across different entries for emerging trends, innovative ways of working, and compelling messaging that didn’t just move the people on the receiving end of the work, but also which persuaded the stakeholders to release the permission and the budget to let that work happen.

We see the Strategic Global Awards program developing into a lighthouse for the profession – a vehicle for accelerating learning as well as recognizing good practices.

This global awards program recognizes excellence in strategic communication, internal communication and change communication for individuals, teams and campaigns. 

We’re all about moving #communicationleadership forward. Please join us and submit your entry by 30 January 2026 to be part of a community that celebrates, collaborates and innovates together, not only for your clients and organizations, but for you, your colleagues, industry peers and the profession. For more, visit the Strategic Global Awards 2026 page. 

Written by: Editor