MRS Awards winners announced for 2017

NatCen Social Research (pictured) was awarded the Grand Prix for greatest impact, which recognises submissions from all categories and is awarded to the entry which best demonstrates the impact of outstanding research. The company also took home the MRS award for innovation in research methodology.

The Making All Voices Count programme, which works for more effective democratic governance across Ghana, Indonesia, Kenya, the Philippines, South Africa and Tanzania, was awarded the president’s medal by MRS president Jan Gooding, global inclusion director at Aviva.

In the Research Live awards, C Space was named best agency with a turnover above £20m, and an entry from the company and Ella’s Kitchen took home the award for business impact of the year.

Sparkler took the award for best agency with a turnover under £20m, while Unilever Research Innovation was awarded the gong for best in-house research team.

Amy Jones of 2CV and Mathilde Leblond of FreshMinds were jointly awarded the young researcher of the year award, which recognises the contribution of new talent to the industry.

Meanwhile, Opinium Research was named best place to work for the second year in a row, One Minute to Midnight was named best new agency, and GfK took the best innovation award for its survey modularisation/split questionnaire design.

Jane Frost, chief executive of MRS, said: “Every year I am prouder than ever of our diverse and talented sector. The breadth of entries we have seen demonstrates once again the range of excellent work across government, media and business that researchers continue to deliver.”

“MRS’ conviction that Evidence Matters feels more pertinent than ever in these increasingly uncertain and troubled times. I feel confident that our sector has the experience, talent and imagination to continue flying the flag for truth and making the business case for decisions grounded in real evidence.  I look forward to seeing what we can achieve in 2018.”

The full list of award winners can be found here.

Pictured: NatCen Social Research with host Susan Calman and MRS president Jan Gooding.