Election 2010 blog scoops national social media award

PA 357/10 An influential blog created by experts from the School of Politics & International Relations and the University's Communications Team to track the 2010 General Election has won a national award. Professors Philip Cowley and Paul Heywood, and Dr Matthew Goodwin accepted the Some Comms Award for Best Low Budget Campaign at the Deansgate Hilton in Manchester last Thursday night. This social media campaign featured original expert opinion and analysis written by School of Politics academics and published online by Communications and Marketing at the University. For a cost of little more than £1,400, it reached an estimated audience of 46m people worldwide — coverage valued at over £4m — raising the profile of Politics at The University of Nottingham. "We're delighted to have won this award," said Professor Philip Cowley, Professor of Parliamentary Government, who edited the blog, "both because of the combined effort so many academics in the School put in to making this work, as well as Andrew Burden's technical know-how, and because it shows that it is possible to make politics and political science accessible to the wider public." This communications campaign was designed to harness interest in the UK Election to promote the School of Politics and International Relations and its Centre for British Politics as a definitive source of expertise. The project tested a new approach combining traditional and online PR, focusing on social media and online 'chatter' to attract followers.