Olympia wins best press office award

Journalists and photographers have voted Olympia’s media service the best on the Rolex FEI World Cup jumping circuit. The London International Horse Show upstaged the 11 other qualifiers in the Western European league to win the Best Press Office award.

The FEI award was introduced at the start of the 2010/2011 World Cup series to celebrate the work of the press teams and encourage continuous improvement in the services supplied.

Olympia’s press officer Jo Peck, said: “We are so thrilled to win this award. It is recognition of all the hard work and dedication of the Olympia press team, and the ongoing support we receive from our organising committee.

“Olympia is famous for its stunning Victorian architecture, but this also presents us with some challenges. This year, we made an extra effort to re-organise the collecting ring and give the media a proper working mixed zone, so they could interview riders more easily. This clearly paid off.”

FEI director of press relations Grania Willis commented: “The Olympia organising committee and the press team looked carefully at the facilities they were offering to media, saw where improvements were required and made some key changes. This had an immediate positive impact and obviously has been really appreciated.

“Good press offices are essential to ensuring that media get the services and facilities they need, when they need them, so that our athletes and sponsors get the type of global visibility that is essential to the future growth and development of our sport around the world.”