Life is all about competition, especially in PR, so why not prepare PR students for their future careers from the very beginning?

“Wanted: Super Intern” is the name of the event organized by CIPR Student Representative for the London Metropolitan University Ekaterina Aleksandrova, which took place on Monday 17 May 2010 at the LMU Moorgate Campus. It has taken the form of a contest amongst 12 MA and BA PR students to win an unpaid one-month internship in a leading PR agency with travel and lunch expenses covered with potential extension into a paid role subject to performance. A number of key consultancies have been considered for the judging panel and a selection of three has been made. Sophie Lilley, Director, and Anna Schirmer, Account Director, at Lansons, Stuart Skinner, Account Director, and Ciaran McCale, Senior PR Executive, at PHA Media and Antony Poppleton, PR Director at Phoenix have taken part in the competition.

Communicate magazine offered a free annual subscription to each of the three winners and a free admission to their next five conferences, starting with Reputation in Financial Services Sector on June 22. The main super intern was to be selected by Felicity Stewart, Publishing executive from Communicate magazine and Ann Willis, Corporate Events officer at LMU.

Competition has become a theme for all aspects of the event. The graphic designer, photographer and the reception venue have all been selected through competition. Potential participants have been approached through professional bodies, social networking sites, personal contact, by direct approach. The following candidates have been chosen:

At the contest PROs introduced their companies and internship terms and presented their briefs for the students to tackle. The judges scored the students on creativity, teamwork, attention to detail, strategic thinking and other personal and professional qualities.

Having seen the group work and presentations both the agencies and the judges were unanimous that the students were all of a very high calibre and Communicate magazine made a change to their initial plan and granted a free admission to their next five conferences to all the three winners and offered an internship in their own editorial team to all present students interested. All the agencies have chosen a secondary intern/s. Below is the list of the winners and runners-up:

Among honoured LMU guests of the event were Pat Wood, Director of Corporate and Community Synergy, at London Metropolitan Business School, Tom Rodwell, Interim Director of Marketing, Communications and Fundraising, and Jeremy Baker, Professor.

The results were announced at the champagne reception in a nearby restaurant the Wall Bar in Old Broad Street, The students had a great opportunity to receive feedback, gain a more in-depth understanding of the internship market dynamics and build up their contacts within the industry, and PR practitioners had an unrestricted access to potential internship material.

The event won a silver prize at London Met Student Achievement Awards 2009-2010 on 2 June 2010.

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For further information please contact:
Ekaterina Aleksandrova (Email: superinternwanted@gmail.com)

14th July 2010