Monday, December 8, 2014

News: Cannon set to boom after prestigious award win

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A Rotherham public relations practitioner been named as Yorkshire and Lincolnshire's Outstanding Freelance PR Practitioner of the year by the Chartered Institute of Public Relations.

Matthew Ridsdale founded Cannon PR, based on the High Street in the town centre in 2011 and was presented with one of the top industry awards by BBC Look North's Harry Gration at a glittering awards ceremony at the Queen's Hotel, Leeds which recognised the very best public relations campaigns, teams and individuals from across the region. It is the first time in the eleven year history of the PRide awards that the title of Outstanding Freelance Practitioner has been awarded to a South Yorkshire-based consultant.

Matthew's work on the Rotherham Real Ale and Music Festival and with the Sheffield & District Law Society also reached the finals of the awards for in three categories: best event, best regional campaign and best publication respectively, where his work went head-to-head with some of the largest consultancies and in-house communications teams in the region.

Matthew began career as a PR professional in 2001 after completing an MSc at the University of Stirling. Since then he has worked in Edinburgh, Derby and latterly headed up the Sheffield division of a national PR agency. His career path took an unexpected turn in 2011 when the company decided to pull out of the city and redundancy beckoned.

The judges of the awards, which comprised of senior members of the public relations industry, based outside of the region, were particularly impressed by Matthew's outlook after he was made redundant and his ability to see his misfortune as an opportunity rather than a setback.

Since forming Cannon PR, Matthew has become one of the first practitioners in Yorkshire to attain the CIPR's Accredited Practitioner standard – awarded in recognition of his commitment to professional excellence as well as devoting his spare time to supporting local good causes as well as working with a wide variety of businesses and not-for-profit organisations throughout South Yorkshire as well as supporting some of Britain's best known companies and brands.

Matthew Ridsdale founder of Cannon PR, said: "The PRide awards are one of the most a highly regarded accolades in the PR industry, especially as all entries are judged by senior PR professionals working in the industry with first hand experience of what makes a good campaign.

"When the finalists were announced it was terrific to discover that my work had been shortlisted in four categories and see work that I've undertaken be named alongside some of the largest PR agencies and communications teams in the region was something that I immensely proud of, but to go on and be named as the region's Outstanding Freelance Practitioner has been the highlight of my career to date.

"Of course, you can't really win awards without the companies, charities and individuals who put their faith in you to deliver work which helps their businesses and I'd like to give a special thanks to everyone who has supported me over the past three years. It's been a truly amazing and exciting journey and I'm now firmly setting my sights on growing the business further and hopefully more success in years to come!"

Cannon PR website

Images: Cannon PR / CIPR

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