KIGALI, RWANDA — Ogilvy and its clients have earned eight 2019 African SABRE Awards, more than any other agency. The African SABREs will be presented on May 16 at a gala dinner that takes place during the African Public Relations Association’s annual conference in Kigali, Rwanda.

Other firms whose clients earned multiple awards include WE Communications (sen wins), South African independent Atmosphere Communications and global giant Burson Cohn & Wolfe (four each); as well as Edelman, Idea Engineers and Reputation Matters (two each). In total, 37 SABRE trophies will be presented to African campaigns this year — an increase on the 28 awards presented last year in Gaborone, Botswana.

“The increase in trophies reflects both an increase in entries from across Africa, and rapid improvement in the quality of work,” said Paul Holmes, who chaired the SABRE Africa jury. “African PR has come of age, and African agencies are producing work of the highest standard for corporate, government and non-profit clients.”

In addition, five campaigns have been shortlisted for the Platinum SABRE Award, which recognizes the best African campaign of the year:

  • Fabric—Siemens with Atmosphere and King James Group
  • Find Your Beautiful—Darling Nigeria with LSF PR
  • Ghanaians Against Child Abuse—UNICEF and the Government of Ghana with Ogilvy Ghana
  • MonnBienKale—Nestle with Blast Burson Cohn & Wolfe
  • She Will Connect—Intel

Tickets to the APRA conference — including the African In2 Summit, which takes place on the afternoon of May 16 — and the SABRE Awards dinner are now available.

A full list of African SABRE honorees can be found here.