Councillor hails PR win for staff newspaper

A LOCAL authority councillor has hailed a ‘David versus Goliath’-type victory by his communications team.

Talk, the newspaper for employees of West Dunbartonshire Council, was last week named the winner of the Internal Publication prize at the PRide Scotland Awards, run by the Chartered Institute of Public Relations.

And Councillor Kath Ryall is quoted on the council website as saying: “For a small communications team like ours to win a prestigious national award against some of the biggest organisations in Scotland is a fantastic achievement.”

The convener of Corporate Services added: “Our employees are the most important asset we have as a Council and it is vital that they get good information about what is happening and feel valued. Talk does that job really well and I’m delighted that work has been nationally recognised.”

The newspaper reportedly went through a redesign in January last year and the local authority says that 68 per cent of staff are very satisfied or satisfied with the paper and 85 per cent strongly agreed or agreed that it kept them up to date about council news.

The website quotes the CIPR judges saying, of Talk: “[It] is interesting, engaging and has captured staff’s attention. Some clever touches such as the inclusion of a greater number of staff and their stories, competitions and QR codes show that this publication is bang up to date and is for the staff not the organisation.”