Leeds Beckett University win ICCO’s Inaugural University PR World Cup

Leeds Beckett University’s Olivia Withnell and Rose Halpin have won the inaugural University edition of ICCO’s PR World Cup (UPRWC). Beating off competition from ten other student teams from UAE, UK, USA, South Africa and Hungary, the pair presented a campaign pitch for a brief set by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF).

Olivia and Rose have won an internship at a top ICCO member agency for 2023.

Aliya Muhammed Selman and Samyuktha Shankar Narayan representing Middlesex University Dubai claimed Silver, and Bronze was shared between Georgie Starling and Maria Istrate from Westminster University alongside Clara Armanios and Arwa Shoeb from Murdoch University in Dubai. Two more teams were also highly commended: Mila Bozic and Anna Ivanova, from Budapest Business School, and the University of Johannesburg’s Mapaseka Tungoane & Makgotso Tswana.

The Next Gen PR World Cup announced its second annual winners last week and this year the first University competition provided an opportunity for students to face a challenging real-world brief and compete against other university teams from different parts of the world.

Teams had only three days to work on the brief, come up with a creative campaign idea, and put together a five-minute video pitch explaining how the idea was practically implementable.

The jury included judges from all the five countries represented.

Sylvester Chauke, Chief Architect, DNA Brand Architects, and ICCO UPRWC Judge said:

“Congratulations to our fantastic winning team, Olivia and Rose from Leeds Beckett University, for coming up with an original creative idea and delivering a great pitch. I was impressed by the level of creativity the students infused in the work and I simply cannot wait to welcome you all as you build exciting careers in PR”.

Gigi Rice, Midweight Creative, Citizen Relations and ICCO Global Youth Board Chair said:

“Congratulations to our winners from Leeds Beckett University. I know how hard these competitions are and the short timescales involved, so I was very pleased to see how confidently and professionally some of the student’s pitches were presented. I look forward to seeing challenging ICCO competitions like this, and the Next Gen competition, grow over the coming years.”