The animal charity’s campaign, which aims to prevent the spread of US-style mega-dairies in Britain, was voted as a unanimous winner in the Public Affairs category.
The Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR) 2011 Excellence Awards recognise and reward best practice in public relations throughout the UK, acknowledging personal and team achievement at the highest professional level. The awards, now in their 26th year, attracted around 700 entries across 27 categories.
Naomi Long MP said: “This award is well deserved and the campaign was very important in terms of our dairy industry. Even though there was no application for a mega-dairy in Northern Ireland, the opening of this type of operation in the UK would have distorted the market for local dairy farmers and may have impacted negatively on prices. There would also have been welfare implications which many people would have been concerned about.”
Suzi Morris, WSPA UK Director explained: “This award is a tribute to the hard work of everyone who has said Not in my Cuppa and I’d especially like to thank our parliamentarian supporters. Together with MPs like Naomi Long WSPA is able to bring about real change; we successfully worked with her and other charities to help overturn two applications for mega dairies, most notably the Nocton Dairies’ 3,770 cow proposal, which would have been the largest in Britain and could have put up to 100 dairy farms out of business.”
Suzi added: “With Naomi’s vital support, we are ensuring that the UK continues to make the right choices for the future regarding how we get our milk in this country, saying no to mega-dairies, and yes to safeguarding animal welfare and protecting the livelihoods of ordinary dairy farmers.”
ENDS