The Middle East Public Relations Association (Mepra) has shortlisted the agencies and individuals for its annual awards which recognise excellence in communications across the Middle East.

'Mepra 2011 Awards,' have attracted 76 entries with Four Communications, Grayling Momentum, and Edelman being shortlisted for four awards, closely followed by Golin Harris, MS&L, Dabo and Company and Hill and Knowlton with three nominations each.

The association said these awards reflect the depth of the professional communications industry in the region, covering a range of disciplines including corporate communications; government; consumer relations and financial and investor relations.

The full list of shortlisted entries by category is as follows:
*Agency of the Year- Edelman, Grayling Momentum
*Outstanding Young Professional of the Year- Sonal Rupani from Edelman; Reham Asad from Capital MSL
*Multi-disciplinary Campaign- Four Communications (two entries)- 'Building Pride' and 'Building Oman's Future'; TMH's 'GCC Traffic Week'; Grayling Momentum's 'Keeping Abu Dhabi's Beaches and Waters Safe'; Dabo & Company's 'The Launch of Adventure HQ.'
*CSR & Community's- MS&L's 'Special Olympics';  Jumeirah's 'Dubai Turtle Rehabilitation Project' and GolinHarris with three entries ('Climbing to Cure Children: The KiliClimb'
; 'Arabia's Angels'
 and 'Meat & Livestock Australia')
*Research Led Communications- Grayling Momentum's 'Using Consumer Research to Shape a Government Awareness Campaign'; Dabo & Company's 'National Bonds Savings Index'
*Government Communications-Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation's 'Enec Forum' and Hill & Knowlton's 'ADFCA Livestock Program'
*Employee Engagement-Orpic and Four Communications's 'Building Pride'; Weber Shandwick Mena's 'Engaging a green team' and HSBC Middle East's 'HSBC UAE CEO Road show'
*Corporate Image/Reputation-Capital MSL's 'From zero to hero - the power of strategic media relations'; Edelman's 'Yahsat'
*Consumer Relations- MS&L's 'Always Diamond launch'; Impact Porter Novelli's 'Braun Iontec Healthy Styling Campaign'; Total Communications' 'The Bride Show Abu Dhabi'; Hill & Knowlton's 'Extend the Appeal of Yas Island as a Weekend Destination'; Edelman 'Abu Dhabi Festival 2011' and Four Communications' 'Through the Gates'
*Business to Business
Dabo & Comoany's Hot Off the Press – Canon at Gulf Print 2011; Shamal Marketing Communications' 'Spring hopes eternal'
* Social/Digital Media-MS&L's 'Olay Eyes of Arabia'; Weber Shandwick Mena's 'A Social Sports Lounge'
; Hill & Knowlton's 'A Better Tomorrow for Egypt'; Grayling Momentum's 'Using Social Media to Strengthen Consumer Loyalty'
*Team Awards (In-house Team of the Year)- Dolphin Energy and Mubadala.
 
An independent panel of judges will select the winners in each category. The region’s leading annual PR industry awards will be presented at a gala dinner on November 30 at Jumeirah Beach Hotel, Dubai.-TradeArabia News Service