Last week saw Wordstorm announce the winners of its inaugural Stormy Awards, in which the PR agency sent trophies to those journalists they felt stood out on both a professional and personal level.
While most winners have been supportive, the awards faced some backlash on social media from journalists and PRs. As a result, Wordstorm will not be holding the awards again.
The aim was to acknowledge bloggers and journalists and the work they do in a fun and light-hearted way. It was nothing deeper than that,” Wordstorm founder Monica Rosenfeld told mUmBRELLA.
We had one journalist contact us who was not happy and we are talking to her at the moment. We sent her an apology. But most just took it very well and we had a fair few emailing saying it was a nice thing to do. I am surprised at the negativity because it was just a light-hearted activity.
It is not something we would go again because of the negativity. In hindsight, I don’t think it was a bad idea but if we did it again then we would give more thought to the nature of the awards.”
The full list of winners includes:
Fiona Baker from Body + Soul – The journalist that best featured our client
Carly O'Donovan from TODAY – The most approachable TV producer
Olivia MacKinnon from beautyheaven – The most enthusiastic journalist
Andrea Zanetich from Fox In Flats – Best blogger
Berlinda Conti from The West Australian – The most approachable journalist
Bonnie Cleaver from Prevention – The best email responder
Michelle Vellacott and Rhys McPherson from Australian Retailer – The publication that best supports our clients
Lillian McHugh from MiNDFOOD – The journalist we’d most love to employ as a PR
Bree Player from Shop Til You Drop – The must-follow journalist on social media
Gyan Yankovich from Cleo/Dolly – The journalist who we’d most like a make-up lesson from
Sarah Harris from Studio 10 – The journalist with the most enviable style
Rosie Waterland from Mamamia – The journalist with the quirkiest writing style
Samera Kamaleddine from Women’s Fitness – The journalist we secretly want to be BFF with
