Out of 21 applications from 10 different countries, the Jury, together with a panel of expert reviewers, selected the finalists for the Master Thesis Award for Excellence in the theoretical and in the practical categories. The EUPRERA BoD, the award coordinator Alexander Buhmann and the jurors congratulate these promising graduates on the outstanding academic work done so far.

Winners of each category will be announced during the EUPRERA Congress in Zagreb on September 28, 2019, together with the winner of the EUPRERA PhD Award for Excellent Doctoral Thesis.

The Master Thesis Award for Excellence, run since 1995, is a celebration of PR academia and of the role performed by European Higher Education Institutions in the evolution of knowledge of this field. With this award, EUPRERA together with PRCA (Public Relations and Communications Association) and ICCO (International Communications Consultancy Organisation) want to honour and reward Master theses (MSc, MA and MPhil) that make a significant professional/practical or academic contribution to the field of Public Relations in Europe.

2019 Finalists
Theoretical Impact Award
  • Raghada Abdelhamied, “What Communication Strategy does the World Bank Employ to Respond to Citizens’ Criticism of its policies and projects in Egypt”. Supervisors Shakuntala Banaji, Lee Edwards. London School of Economics and Political Science, England
  • Sebastian Jansen, “Sources of Power and Potentials of Influence for Communication Management in Organizations from a Micro-Political Perspective”. Supervisors Ansgar Zerfass, Christof E. Ehrhart. Leipzig University, Germany
  • Melissa Walker, “Building the Nation: Analysing the Scottish Government’s Public Diplomacy Campaign Scotland is Now in the Context of Brexit”. Supervisor Mariola Tarrega. University of Stirling, Scottland
Practical Impact Award
  • Julia Beiersdorf, “Digital Innovation Units from the Perspective of Corporate Communications – An Analysis of the Integration of Digital Innovation Units into the Communications of German”Companies. Supervisor Ansgar Zerfass. Leipzig University, Germany
  • Nora Biermann, “From small citizens to a greater Europe: Differences in the semantic construction and thematic framing of European identity on Twitter during the pre- and post-Brexit era”. Supervisor Lluís Más Manchón. University of Stirling and Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Scottland/Spain
  • Jennifer Byron, “Is the ECB a good KISSer? An analysis of the readability and comprehensibility of European Central Bank communications”. Supervisor Ana Adi. Quadriga University, Germany
  • Jerome Chariatte, “The Impact of International News and Stereotypes on Country Images. A Case Study of the Swiss Country Image”. Supervisor Diana Ingenhoff. University of Fribourg, Switzerland
  • Eduardo Alejandro López Jiménez, “The impact of artificial intelligence and automation in the role of communications professionals in the next five years”. Supervisors Richard Bailey, Tania Ouariachi. Hanze Universitz, Leeds Beckett University, Netherlands/England