The five winners of the ACU PR, Marketing and Communications Awards 2013 have been revealed.

These annual awards aim to recognise, encourage, and celebrate the achievements of PR and communications professionals in ACU member universities, and to draw attention to models of good practice. The awards also offer members a chance to promote their institutions and receive feedback on their work.

The University of Hertfordshire emerged top in the Website category for the second time in three years, with the judging panel praising the university's focus on user experience and the website’s responsive design. Victoria University of Wellington became the first institution from New Zealand to win a PR Award. They came top in the Student Prospectuses category, with Bangor University taking the honourable mention in that category for the second time in three years. Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University equalled the University of the West Indies’ record by appearing on the roll of winners and honourable mentions for a record-equalling fourth year, this time as an honourable mention in the Outreach and Community Relations category.

The awards are judged according to several criteria, including relevance to their target audience, communication of key messages, and efficient use of resources. The judging panel, comprising marketing and PR professionals from universities across the Commonwealth and senior colleagues at the ACU, also consider the creativity and originality of content and design, as well as ease of access to information.

The awardees will be presented with their trophies at the ACU HR Management and PR Network Conference in Glasgow, UK, in July 2014.

The full list of winners can be found here: PR Awards 2013 results