MAP is a national winner!

EMPRA and Marine Academy Plymouth won the award for Reputation Turnaround at the national Reputation Online Effectiveness Awards held at the Hospital Club in London's Covent Garden.

The national award is in recognition of EMPRA’s work on the reputation management strategies, which incorporated social media and web based communication to get its messages across, as Marine Academy Plymouth changed from state school to a sponsored academy.

Ruth Sparkes, EMPRA's Director said: “I am absolutely delighted that we have won this award. And, when I say ‘we’, this award is as much Marine Academy Plymouth’s as it is EMPRA’s.

“The new Principal and her team, as well as the Academy’s parents and students have embraced these new communication channels and this has made working with the Academy really interesting and challenging.”

Helen Mathieson, Principal at Marine Academy Plymouth said; "The run up to becoming an academy was challenging and Ruth worked hard at keeping the positive messages, the accurate messages flowing, any way she could. The award is fantastic recognition of that.

“We had a fabulous evening, it was such a glittering event, there were organisations representing, Channel 4, Cadbury’s, Sony… Habitat. We were hopeful, as you always are with these things, but when we heard ‘…and the winner is Marine Academy Plymouth’ – we were both, shocked, delighted and very, very pleased.”

The award was announced by Vikki Chowney for New Media Age magazine and presented by Richard Ellis, Communications Director at the PRCA, it now has pride of place in the Academy’s reception.