PARLIAMENTARY CHARITY AWARDS WINNERS ANNOUNCED

The winners of this year's ComRes Parliamentary Charity Awards were announced last night at a champagne reception held on the House of Commons Terrace. More than 150 invited Parliamentarians, charity representatives, corporate charity donors and public affairs pracitioners attended the event which was compered by the BBC's James Landale.

The Gurkha Justice campaign won 'Best Parliamentary Campaign' and Peter Carroll was on hand to collect the award. Other awards were won by the NSPCC, Cancer Research UK and Oxfam. The awards were presented by an esteemed group of political and charity personalities including the Rt Hon Ed Balls MP, 2009 fundraiser of the year Phil Packer, former Mayor of London Ken Livingstone and author, broadcaster and campaigner Jonathan Aitken.

Charities were nominated by parliamentarians in a completely open process. ComRes asked all MPs and Peers on its research panels to name the charity in each category which had communicated best with them in 2009. The shortlisted charities are those which received the most votes.

ComRes Chief Executive Andrew Hawkins said “We are delighted to have the opportunity to recognise the important contribution of these thirty charities. Alongside our Charity of the Month scheme, we see these awards as a key part of our continuing commitment to the charitable sector. We are grateful to all of the parliamentarians who nominated charities this year, and have helped us to highlight the informative role that they play in the legislative process”.

ComRes would like to thank the Parliamentarians, colleagues and friends - and of course the charities themselves - for supporting and attending the event.

Special thanks also go to Stephen Crabb for sponsoring the evening.

The full list of winners was:

Best Parliamentary Campaign

Winner: Gurkha Justice

Macmillan
National Autism Society
RNIB

Most Effective Charity Campaigner

Winner: Joanna Lumley

Sam Smethers
Steve Winyard

Most Improved Parliamentary Communications

Winner: Cancer Research UK

Diabetes UK
Gurkha Justice

Best Animal Welfare Charity