Empowering future PR professionals, one creative pitch at a time
Talented public relations students from Western Sydney University have been crowned the winners of the national Pitch This! competition for the second year running.
Pitch This! is an annual competition first devised in 2019 by Dr Nicole Bridges from the University’s School of Humanities and Communication Arts. It gives public relations students from universities around Australia a chance to put their hard-learned skills and creative talents to the test by pitching for a real client and PR campaign.
A talented team of final-year Bachelor of Communication students, Alliyah Chiong, Nikola Daniele, Areeba Fatima and Kate Brown, were named competition winners from a group of more than 70 students, with the University of Queensland team named highly commended.
The brief for the participants was provided by Kidsafe Australia. The students were tasked with the job of designing a campaign to increase awareness of the 2025 Kidsafe National Playspace Design Awards, and promote Kidsafe as the leading Australian child safety advocacy organisation.
“Winning the Pitch This! competition is incredibly rewarding and exciting. It’s testament to the hard work and collaboration my team put into our campaign,” said Areeba.
“I’m grateful for the opportunity to showcase our skills and creativity and to see our ideas resonate with the judges. This win feels like a great milestone in my PR journey and is motivating for the path ahead.”
Kate said the opportunity to pitch to an organisation like Kidsafe Australia added a new level of excitement and challenge to the competition.
“It brought a sense of responsibility and realism that encouraged us to think strategically and creatively to meet the client’s needs,” she said.
“The experience also highlighted the importance of collaboration and adaptability in PR, skills that I’m excited to continue refining. It was an invaluable, hands-on experience that provided a taste of what working in the industry is like.”
Dr Bridges warmly congratulated the team on their win, and said the competition is a great example of the hands-on learning that students experience as part of their studies.
“It is incredibly rewarding to see our talented students come up with such creative ideas and put in so much work to their pitch and walk away as winners for an incredible second year running,” said Dr Bridges.
“Most importantly, the competition gives all the participating students such terrific hands-on experience – enabling them to benefit from the all-important insights and thoughtful feedback from real professional practitioners that is so valuable when it comes to entering the communications and PR industry.”
Dr Bridges said the competition saw industry mentors volunteer their time to help support the six finalist teams during the final two weeks of the competition.
“The calibre of the work from the students has been amazing to see – the students worked closely with their mentors to ensure their final pitch documents were well and truly industry standard and their supporting pitch videos helped ’sell the sizzle’,” she said.
Alliyah welcomed the hands-on opportunity to work on a real campaign, and said she is inspired to work in corporate communications or media relations once she graduates.
“I’d love to be part of a dynamic team where I can contribute to meaningful campaigns and build strong relationships with clients and the media. Ultimately, my goal is to work in an area that allows me to use my skills to make an impact and contribute to positive brand storytelling,” said Alliyah.
Nikola has also been enjoying her PR studies – she said her degree is engaging, challenging, and full of learning opportunities.
“Each subject offers new insights into the different aspects of PR, from campaign development to media relations. I love how each project helps me grow and develop skills that are directly applicable to the industry,” Nikola said.
“The degree has also connected me with passionate and talented people, from classmates to mentors, which has been inspiring.”
Pitch This! is the only national competition of its kind for tertiary public relations students and is supported by Communication and Public Relations Australia (CPRA).
For the first time in 2024, the competition also secured sponsorship from Sue Hardman of Hardman Communications – herself a proud alumnus of Western Sydney University.
Dr Bridges thanked Ms Hardman for her generous contributions and ongoing support of the initiative, enabling Pitch This! to provide prizes to this year’s winner and highly commended teams.
ENDS
30 January 2024
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