Nominations Open For The 2025 IABC APAC Communicator Of The Year Awards

The IABC Asia Pacific’s Communicator of the Year (CoTY) Awards program is a unique opportunity to acknowledge exceptional communication excellence and leadership.

We are now accepting nominations in two categories:

• Executive Leader – Open to executives such as presidents, CEOs, C-suite leaders, managing directors, vice presidents, or heads of private firms, organizations, or government agencies based in any Asia-Pacific country. Nominees must have demonstrated leadership in strategic communication excellence.

• Senior Communication Professional – Open to communication professionals in the Asia-Pacific region with at least ten years of experience who have developed and implemented effective communication programs to support their company’s or organization’s goals.

Unlike most other communication awards programs, the Communicator of the Year Award celebrates the individual. The awards are not based on projects, but on the ability of a leader to deliver the very best communication day in and day out. It recognises and honours strategic communication excellence. The honour will become a powerful statement that will support the winners’ careers for years to come.

How to Nominate

The nomination deadline for this year’s awards has been extended to 15 May 2025 (Thursday) at 11:59 PM India time (timezone conversions).

Nominees can either be self-nominated or nominated by an IABC member or non-member. People outside their organization can also nominate them. Nominations must be emailed to awards@iabcapac.com with the subject “Communicator of the Year Nomination” and must include:

• CV of the nominee (no more than four (4) pages),

• Nomination form that will contain:

  • One (1) page essay or statement on why the nominee is deserving of this award and description of accomplishments,

  • Response to each criterion – word count for each criteria response is a maximum of 300 words (criteria is listed below),

  • Two referees or references including contact details and relationship to nominee, and

  • Contact details of the nominator (if not self-nominated)

Click here to nominate:

Executive Leader Category

Senior Communication Professional Category

Eligibility 

Senior Communication Professional category 

• 10+ years in the communication profession 

• The nominee has developed and implemented effective communication programs to support their company’s or organization’s goals.

• The nominee can be an IABC member or non-member.

• The nominee must have one year or more in his/her current position at nomination

• The nominee must be based in the Asia Pacific region.

• The nominee must be of good standing in the communication profession.

• Demonstrates adherence to ethical behaviour.

• Current IABC IEB, IABC APAC region and chapter leaders are not eligible.

Executive Leader category

• Current leader (i.e. CEO, Chair, President, Executive Director, C-suite leader, vice president, country head) of a private firm, organization, or government

• The nominee must have one year or more in his/her current position at nomination

• The nominee must be based in the Asia Pacific region.

• The nominee must be of good standing in the community.

• Demonstrates adherence to ethical behaviour.

• Current IABC APAC region and chapter leaders are not eligible.

Evaluation Criteria

Senior Communication Professional nominee must:

• Demonstrate strategic and innovative thinking and implementation in communication.

• Demonstrate how their communication strategies and initiatives have contributed to business outcomes.

• Demonstrate their commitment to the development of their people and the team’s strategic communication capability and skill-set to deliver business results.

• Have had a substantial positive influence with key stakeholders and the community.

• Demonstrate a strong code of ethics.

Executive Leader nominee must:

• Demonstrate an ability to communicate authentically.

• Demonstrate the application of good communication practices to deliver business results.

• Have had a substantial positive influence with key stakeholders and the community.

• Exemplify the role of a leader in communications.

• Utilise effective external and internal communications.

• Demonstrate a strong code of ethics.

Evaluation Committee:

The Evaluation Committee consists of up to seven (7) people, including: IABC APAC Chair, IABC APAC Vice-Chair, IABC APAC Immediate Past Chair, IABC APAC Treasurer, IABC APAC Recognition Director, IABC APAC Chapter President x 2. 

The panel will be seeking nominations demonstrating:

• Exceptional leadership, management, and communication skills

• Delivering measurable business value for their organisation through strategic communication.

• Innovation and bold thinking

• Effective communication with diverse audiences

• High ethical and professional standards.

Responses will be evaluated against each criterion on a rating score of 1 – 7, with 1 being poor and 7 being excellent. Referees and nominator may be interviewed by an Evaluation Committee member during the evaluation process.

Congratulations to our previous Communicator of the Year Award recipients

• 2024 – Atty. Felipe L. Gozon (Executive Leader category),  Prof. HJ Mohd Said Bani (Senior Communication Professional category)

• 2023 – Jose Teodoro K. Limcaoco (Executive Leader category),  Maryanne Kepui (Senior Communication Professional category)

• 2022 – Charlie A. Agatep (Executive Leader category), Aniisu K Verghese, PhD (Senior Communication Professional category)

• 2021 – Sia Papageorgiou FRSA SCMP (Senior Communication Professional category)

• 2020 – Kate Carnell AO (Executive Leader category), Gabrielle Dolan (Senior Communication Professional category)