PARALYMPICS PRCA Award Entry

Paralympics PR Campaign developed by the Irish Sports Council, O'Herlihy Communications and the Paralympic Council of Ireland has been shortlisted in the Awards for Excellence in PR by the Public Relations Consultants Association (PRCA). The annual Awards ceremony is being held on June 16th in Dublin.

Background

The Paralympics is an elite sports event for athletes from six different disability categories; Amputee, Cerebral Palsy, Intellectual disability, Wheelchair, Vision impaired and Les Autres meaning ‘the others’ which usually refers to athletes with a range of conditions that don’t fit into the other categories. The classification system aims to make the competitions fairer, within these six categories athletes are then grouped according to their differing level of impairment. 4,000 athletes from 153 countries competed at 19 different sports at the Athens Games, now the second largest sporting event in the world. Elite disabled competitive sports dispel stigma surrounding disabilities and illuminate the realm of possibility. OHC was contracted to look after the media relations for the Paralympic effort, to encompass the pre-publicity stage, the team announcement, media training of athletes and to provide a press service during the Games. Publicity surrounding the team’s departure and homecoming were also under the remit of this project. Generating interest and crucially understanding amongst the sporting and general public through local and national media was the priority.

For further information see the PRII Website