LONDON—Clients of global agencies BCW, Edelman and Hill+Knowlton Strategies and UK creative shop Hope & Glory lead have all received double-digit nominations for the EMEA SABRE Awards —leading the way among more than 100 PR firms that entered this year’s competition.

The EMEA SABREs will be presented once again at a virtual ceremony. Tickets for the event, scheduled for June 9, will go on sale soon. 

BCW and its clients received 20 nominations for the Gold and Diamond SABRE categories, more than any other firm and ahead of Edelman (19 finalists) and Hill+Knowlton Strategies (12 finalists). Hope & Glory’s clients received 10 nominations from the judges, who once again considered more than 2000 entries.

Other firms with multiple nominees included global agencies Golin, Ketchum and Ogilvy with eight apiece; Switzerland’s Farner, Publicis-owned multinational MSL, and the UK’s Tin Man with seven each; Spanish firm LLYC, British firm The Romans, and global powerhouse Weber Shandwick with six; and Omnicom PR Group, and W Communications with five.

“The Covid-19 pandemic did not impact either the quantity or ,quality of submissions to this year’s competition,” said Paul Holmes, who chaired the SABRE judges—a group of more than 50 senior professionals from across the region. “The PR industry across Europe, the Middle East and Africa continued to produce incredible creative work, particularly in the digital realm and in the area of purpose—with companies under pressure to demonstrate their commitment to both employee and consumer concerns.”

A complete list of this year’s finalists can be found here.