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"It is a great honour to be recognised by colleagues from all over Europe," says communications director Øivind Dagsvik Eskedal.
The Red Flag Campaign was one of ten finalists for the EUPRIO Award.
EUPRIO is a European association for communications and marketing professionals in higher education. At their annual conference with over 300 participants, the award is given for "excellent and original communication projects that make a real difference."
"We've competed with many creative projects, including those using grandmothers to engage young people in research and a Finnish university delivering education via TikTok. Winning against such strong competition is all the more exciting," says Eskedal.
"Especially valuable"
The campaign was initiated by UiA students and developed in collaboration with the Centre for Gender and Equality at UiA and the Division of Communications.
"What is unique about the campaign is how it uses the target audience's own language and addresses potential perpetrators who may not be fully aware of their actions," says Eskedal.
In a survey, nearly half of the students said the campaign made them more aware of their own behaviour, and 86 per cent would like it to be repeated.
"UiA aims to be the students' university, so for a campaign initiated by the students to win is especially valuable," says Eskedal.
Creative and effective
Just like in Eurovision, the winner was voted for by both the conference participants and a professional jury.
The jury praised the campaign for its creativity and effectiveness.
In recent years, universities from Italy, Poland, Portugal, Finland and Belgium have won the prize.
"The nomination acknowledges the interdisciplinary team of students and staff who developed the campaign," said Hilde Inntjore, UiA's vice-rector for education, when the nomination was announced before the summer.
Happy to share with others
Several organisations and educational institutions have contacted UiA afterwards, asking if they could "borrow" the campaign.
At the conference in Lisbon, Damares Stenbakk, communications adviser from the Centre for Gender Equality, Saara M. Ojanen, graphic designer, and Øivind Dagsvik Eskedal, communications director, presented the campaign both on stage and at a dedicated stand.
Universities from across Europe have now downloaded content from a dedicated website where materials, guidelines and advice are available.
Won awards in Cannes
This isn't the first time UiA's communications work has gained international recognition.
In 2021, UiA won awards in three categories in an international competition for corporate films in Cannes for the "Sorry, not sorry" video, which went viral and was viewed by millions.
What both projects have in common is that they were created using only internal resources.