Vice President Salous Chilima's press officer Pililani Phiri has been awarded as Public Relations Professional of the year by Public Relations Society of Malawi (PRSM).
The award was announced on Friday night February 26, 2021 during a virtual conference and general meeting of the PRSM which also ushered in new office bearers for the society.
Phiri has been honoured due to his splendid and consistent public relations efforts around the Vice President.
Chilima has emerged as a darling among many Malawians since he left the former governing Democratica Progressive Party (DPP) and formed UTM Party which dazzled Malawians with outstanding public relations and marketing campaign strategies and messages during both the 2019 elections and the June 23, 2020 fresh elections.
Confirming the development, Phiri said he accepts the award with humility.
"So humbled tonight to have been awarded as Public Relations Professional of the year by the Public Relations Society of Malawi (PRSM)" he said, adding; "I accept the award with humility. Roughly paraphrasing the PR Excellence theory, PR always works and ticks with organizations or bosses that value and respect it."
This was apparently to the cordial work relation that is visibly seen between the Vice President and his PR manager.
Phiri, who before joining the Veep office was editor at the award winning Zodiak Broadcasting Station (ZBS) and host of the popular Tiuzeni Zoona talkshow, has received over 12 awards as a journalist.
In 2006 he scooped the investigative journalist of the year award before clinching the John Manyarara (sadc) investigative journalist of the year in 2007.
Phiri also won several awards including two for his talk show Tiuzeni Zoona between 2008 and 2014.
In 2018 Phiri left for London to study for an MA in Politics and International Relations at the University of Westminsiter where he graduated with a Merit. Apparently to demonstrate the cordial relationship with his boss, Phiri was not replaced until he returned and continued working with Chilima outside the government.
During the conference, retired National Bank Of Malawi Public Relations Offocer Anna Magola was also honoured as an honorary fellow for the society.
