The PPA Awards are one of the most highly anticipated events in the publishing calendar. They are also one of the few to specifically recognise the role and work of those in the B2B industry, acknowledging the different challenges we face compared to those in consumer media and celebrating our successes.

That means there are always a lot of strong entries from a wide array of media brands. Competition to get on the shortlist, never mind win, is fierce. And it’s why more than 650 people turned up to the event, held at Grosvenor House Hotel, in June this year. These are awards that everyone in the media industry wants to win.

That includes Raconteur. We had had our eye on winning a PPA Award for a number of years and, after a really strong 2021, felt we had an entry that could at least get on the shortlist for the B2B Media Brand of the Year award. Our audience growth and engagement was strong and we had an outstanding year of revenue and profit growth - the best in our history.

Still, we had to prove that to the judging panel, which was made up of senior leaders from some of the best media companies in the UK including Hearst, Incisive Media and Future. We were delighted when the judges agreed and we were shortlisted. But the strength of this category was clearly demonstrated when eight other companies also made the shortlist - one of the longest shortlists at the awards! We found ourselves up against B2B heavyweights such as marketing industry title Campaign, healthcare magazine Pulse and IT title Computing.

Other companies shortlisted across the awards included the BBC, the Beano, Radio Times, Vogue, Marketing Week, Grazia, The Big Issue and The Lawyer.

With such a strong turnout from the best in the industry, winning was far from certain. We were confident we had a good entry - but did someone else have a better one? We had to wait until almost the end of the awards as well, with the event saving the most prestigious and best awards to last.

To our delight, we won! It was a moment of real joy for everyone there and one we celebrated well into the night.

That we triumphed is a sign of how well every aspect of the company, from writers to designers, sales to commercial content, recruitment to finance, have pulled together to build a brand that can take on - and beat - the best in the industry. It’s a source of immense pride to everyone that works here to get the recognition of our success from our peers.

And we’re not done yet. Winning a PPA Award once is wonderful. But we want to build a company that can be recognised as the best not just in 2021 but going forward too. If that sounds like something you want to be part of, get in touch!