PLMR and the Big Issue have been nominated for “Best Use of a Communication Tool in a Campaign” at the PRCA Digital Awards 2022. The award celebrates the work of the Stop Mass Homelessness campaign, a landmark project which secured over £316m of additional government funding to support those at risk of homelessness.

The Big Issue, working with the University of East Anglia, gathered statistics from local authorities across England on how the risk of homelessness had risen area-by-area throughout the pandemic; the PLMR team then created an online tool to help members of the public look up the number of people at risk of homelessness in their constituency and see how the numbers had changed throughout lockdown and beyond. The system also allowed users to email their MP directly and demand action was taken by government.

Lord John Bird, founder of The Big Issue, said:

“We are very pleased this tool has been nominated for a Digital Campaign Award. This tool was a great addition to the Big Issue’s Stop Mass Homelessness Campaign (SMASSH), and we are grateful to PLMR, Alex Hackett and Cyrus Dordi for their work on this.

“In December, the SMASSH campaign was heeded by the Government who announced a further £315 million, on top of £65 million allocated in October, for homelessness prevention, saving an avalanche of people from the damaging experience of homelessness over winter.”

The PLMR team won the same award last year for their work supporting Marcus Rashford’s #EndChildFoodPoverty campaign; the PLMR digital team worked with the Food Foundation to produce a fully interactive map of businesses, charities and local councils who were offering free and reduced meals for families in need during the holidays.

PLMR have won awards and received nominations at every PRCA Digital Awards since the digital practice began. PRCA Director of Digital, Alex Hackett, won Digital Professional of the Year in 2019, and Senior Digital Manager Lucy Somers was nominated the year after for the same prize.