News aktuell, the German partner of SDA subsidiary News aktuell Schweiz, is launching the new industry prize "obs-awards 2006". The best PR images of the year are being sought for the six categories "Portrait", "Corporate Communications", "PR Event", "Product Photo", "Sports Sponsorship" and "Infographics". Press offices and PR agencies from Germany and Switzerland that have made photos and graphics available to the media for royalty-free use in the past twelve months can apply until August 23. The awards are intended to recognize the growing importance of photos - not least through the medium of the Internet - for media work, according to a press release. Journalists, press spokespersons and PR professionals will decide which applicants make the running in a final online vote. The winners will be announced in November and the prizes are worth a total of 3000 euros.

The three companies Bell, Carlsberg and Coop are bringing a football atmosphere to the shopping centers. Under the claim "Kick+Win", the promotional campaign will be touring around 40 Coop sales outlets and various trade fairs and events from May to September with 3-person Töggeli tables and a Töggeli pinball box. Coop customers are attracted by prizes that can also be won in the online version of the game. Atelier V. from Worb is responsible for the visual communication - from the website to posters and branding. Coop, Carlsberg and Bell are sponsors of several new football stadiums in Switzerland. Calsberg is also one of the sponsors of the Swiss national football team.

In the first week of June, the Neue Zürcher Zeitung (NZZ) received the 21st Century Achievement Award for the digitization of its archive. The newspaper won in the "Media, Arts and Entertainment" category with its more than two million newspaper pages. As the NZZ reported on Friday, in 2004 several computer scientists at the Fraunhofer Institute for Media Communication began converting the printing ink of bygone days into machine-readable texts. As a result, NZZ employees can now search through 226 years of NZZ in a matter of seconds - right back to the first issue of January 12, 1780. For the time being, the archive is not yet directly accessible to outsiders and only to a limited extent. Every year since 1988, the 21st Century Achievement Award has honored "exceptional" achievements in the use of computer technology "for the good of society". 33 jury members, representing the major companies in the American computer industry, selected the ten winners from more than fifty finalists.

The Swiss Sponsoring Association FASPO and SAWI are organizing the 3rd Swiss Sponsoring Meeting on 26 June 2006 in Zurich. The focus will be on athletics and performance evaluation in sponsoring. Speakers and panelists include the President of FASPO, Bernd Reichstein (Head of Sportfive Market Research and Services), Dr. Anton Glogger (Head of Sponsorship Strategy & Consulting UBS AG), Bruno Tschanz (Federal Office of Sport), Marc Santschi (Head of Sponsorship Swiss Post) and Prof. Dr. Hansruedi Müller (President of the Swiss Athletics Association). The meeting will last from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m., after which the SAWI invites you to an aperitif. The event is open to anyone interested. For further information and registration: FASPO Professional Association for Sponsoring, tel. 071 666 62 00, e-mail [email protected].

NZZ and Tamedia shook up the job market last week with new portals, and now "Südostschweiz" is following suit. The media group is launching a jobs site for the Südostschweiz region. Jobseekers can search for regional and national jobs and set up a search subscription. Job advertisements can be placed in combination with various print titles. The portal was developed by Südostschweiz NewMedia. Further categories are to follow in the course of the year.

The Vaud daily newspaper "24 heures" has a new editor-in-chief in Thierry Meyer. Meyer replaces Jaques Poget (61), who led the editorial team for eight years and drove forward the regionalization of the paper with the creation of four regional editions. As the publishing house Edipresse announced on Monday, he will be responsible for other regional press projects at the publishing house. The 42-year-old Meyer began his career at "24 heures". After longer stints at "Nouveau Quotidien" and "Le Temps", he returned to "24 heures" last March as deputy editor-in-chief.

The shortlists for the Cannes Media Lions were announced on Monday. At the Media Lions, the advertising impact of the medium used is judged. This year, Cannes recorded 1466 entries from 60 countries in this category, an increase of over 36% compared to the previous year. Switzerland was represented with 30 entries - six of which can hope to win a Lion. The official award ceremony will take place on Tuesday evening.
Two Swiss works are represented in the "Best use of Magazines" category. Vizeum with "The Hidden Scent" for Bulgary Parfums and the cover of the music magazine Rockstar "Stéphanie Berger naked. On page 31", with which Advico Young & Rubicam for Schweppes showed a Schweppes bottle instead of Stéphanie Berger because the page had been torn out.
In the "Best use of Outdoor" category, Zurich-based creative firm Jung von Matt/Limmat made it to the top of the list with its campaign against air pollution for the Westtangenteplus interest group.
Two works were again successful in the "Best use of Ambient Media" category. One was Ruf Lanz with the Suva prevention campaign against skiing accidents, the other was Jung von Matt/Limmat with the campaign for Mini Switzerland.
Spillnmann/Felser/Leo Burnett are also among the best in the "Best use of Special Events and Stunts" category. They made it onto the shortlist with their work for Pet Recycling.
The shortlists for the top disciplines of Press and Outdoor are also already known. Despite lively participation from Switzerland, however, none of the submitted works made it onto the world's best shortlists. In the Press category, 7387 works were submitted (139 from Switzerland), in the Outdoor category 5282 works (121 from Switzerland).
No Swiss entry was submitted in the Radio category.
The shortlists for Film, Cyber and Titanium have yet to be announced. On Tuesday, it will be revealed whether one of the seven entries from Switzerland made it onto the shortlist for the Cyber Lions out of 2502 submissions. The details of the Lion contenders for Film (4860 submissions, 83 from Switzerland) and Titanium (203 submissions, 3 from Switzerland) will follow on June 23.Kathrin Fischer

In the opinion of the Audience Council, Swiss Television (SF) has successfully kicked off the World Cup. The broadcasts in the run-up to and during the launch phase on television and radio were observed and evaluated. On the one hand, it had succeeded in building up excitement for the major event, while on the other hand the journalistic quality of the reporting was also convincing. It was also found to be good that SF refrained from excessive emotionality and distinguished itself with an independent offering. The commentary and analysis of the matches by the experts also convinced the Audience Council - even if they found that some match commentators sometimes spoke a little too much. There was also a lot of praise for the website, which offers real added value. In terms of the amount of reporting, however, the Public Council believes that an upper limit has been reached.
The children's programs on Swiss Radio DRS were also attested a high level of quality. According to the press release, it is a pity that the children's programs are not well enough known.

The Zurich agency Lesch+Frei has added junior AD Matthias Kadlubsky (25) to its team. The German studied at the Marquardt Advertising and Media Academy in Dortmund and has previously worked for Playboy, Globetrotter and DHL, among others. In Switzerland, Kadlubsky initially worked at Alex Schmid Direct for clients such as PostFinace, UBS, Swisscom Fixnet and Jungkind Interior Design. His work for Globetrotter was honored by ADC Germany and at the New York Festival. Kadlubsky has been shortlisted in Cannes for his work for Jungkind Interior.

The Federation of European Direct and Interactive Marketing (Fedma) has launched a new council as part of the Cannes Lions Festival. This is intended to offer direct marketing agencies the opportunity to exchange ideas. Marketing agencies and clients had encouraged Fedma to form a specialized group. The first project is a survey of the market and legal environment, which should show DM agencies what is important at European level when briefing clients. The council will also deal with targeting and new media. Steve Grout from Rapp Collins Europe will take the lead.

The creative minds at Zurich-based advertising agency Neutral have created a new website for the Bindella company. According to a press release, this is intended to give the brand, which consists of gastronomy, wine trade, real estate and crafts, a uniform appearance. The restaurants and services are presented using images by American artist Sam Samore. Internet agency Nemos is responsible for the programming.

Raoul D. Stöhlker becomes a member of the board of the European Association of Political Consultants (EAPC). The association was founded in Zurich in 1996 and aims to professionalize political communication. Its members are exclusively consultants to political parties and government agencies. "The aim of the EAPC is to increase the quality of political consulting with the aim of developing democratic culture," says Stöhlker. This takes place at annual congresses, where the international exchange of experience is promoted. EACP has been publishing the yearbook "Election Time" for three years and promotes talented young people with the "EACP Master Class." For the past three years, Rauol D. Stöhlker has managed Stöhlker & Partner GmbH in Berlin. On September 1, he will join the management of Klaus J. Stöhlker AG in Zollinkon.