date: 4 July 2008

embargo: immediate

Musicians' Union tops gongs at union comms awards

The Musician's Union headed the union medal board by winning three categories in the annual Union Communications Awards organised by the TUC. The 32,000-member union won best one-off publication and best website outright and shared the coveted best journal award with the National Union of Teachers.

Keith Ames, MU head of comms, said when accepting the best journal award at the ceremony at TUC headquarters on 1 July for Musician: 'One country life-type magazine editor told me that if all else fails they put a wet dog on their cover because that's what their readers like. Well our equivalent is a sweaty pop singer. My advice to editors everywhere - find your own 'wet dog'.'

Editor of the NUT's journal The Teacher Ellie Campbell-Barr paid tribute to former general secretary Steve Sinnott, who died earlier this year. 'Steve was a progressive driving force behind the redesign and re-launch of the magazine in 2007 and he would be extremely proud to see the union's efforts paying off tonight', she said.

The annual competition is sponsored by Bank of Scotland and is a chance for trade unions to showcase their best campaigning and communications efforts, and to be assessed by a panel of expert judges. More than 90 entries were submitted to this year's competition, in seven categories. Twenty-two entries won the top prizes or special commendations. Guests on the night included TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber and TUC President Dave Prentis, whose own union UNISON won Best Campaign.

The judges were represented on the night by Labour Behind the Label Campaigns Coordinator Martin Hearson, just back from distributing Playfair campaign leaflets at Glastonbury, who praised the professionalism of modern-day union communications. Other judges were Terry Rooney MP; Martin Shankleman, Employment Correspondent, BBC; Deborah Summers, Political Editor, Guardian website; and Mike Glover, Head of Comms of the shop-worker union USDAW (winner of last year's best journal).

The full awards list is as follows:

Joint winners, Best Journal or Magazine: NUT, The Teacher; MU, Musician Winner, Best Feature: FBU 'A Tangible Sense of Loss'
Winner, Best Campaign: UNISON Strong Yet Caring
Winner, Best Use of a Photograph or Illustration: NUJ; photographer Alan Wylie
Winner, Best One-Off Publication: MU, Members' Handbook 2008
Winner, Best Use of E-Communications: NUT Fair Pay for Teachers micro-site Winner, Best Website: MU, www.musiciansunion.org.uk

NOTES TO EDITORS:

The competition is open to all affiliate members of the TUC and is hosted by the TUC and the Bank of Scotland. It has been running since 1977. A pdf of the judges' comments is athttp://www.tuc.org.uk/extras/judgescomments.pdf

- The focus on the winners pdf is athttp://www.tuc.org.uk/extras/focusonwinners.pdf

- All TUC press releases can be found at www.tuc.org.uk

- Register for the TUC's press extranet: a service exclusive to journalists wanting to access pre-embargo releases and reports from the TUC. Visit www.tuc.org.uk/pressextranet

Contacts:

Media enquiries:
Liz Chinchen T: 020 7467 1248 M: 07778 158175 E: media@tuc.org.uk
Rob Holdsworth T: 020 7467 1372 M: 07717 531150 E: rholdsworth@tuc.org.uk
Elly Brenchley T: 020 7467 1337 M: 07900 910624 E: ebrenchley@tuc.org.uk

Press release (600 words) issued 4 Jul 2008