Safer Internet Day 2021 shortlisted for two prestigious awards

There were more than 2.4 million views of Safer Internet Day films and almost 1.6 million downloads of educational resources. In fact, the day was quite literally a record-breaking event, with the GUINNESS WORLD RECORD™ for ‘Most pledges received for an internet safety campaign in 24 hours’ surpassed thanks to the UK Safer Internet Centre’s partnership with 2Simple Software.

As well as reaching such a great number of young people, as a result of Safer Internet Day 2021, 82 per cent of young people felt more confident about what to do if they were worried about something online, while 85 per cent of young people now know what to do if they or someone else sees misleading or unreliable content online.

The Charity Times Awards

Those figures and achievements have been recognised by The Charity Times Awards, who have shortlisted the UK Safer Internet Centre partners, Childnet International, Internet Watch Foundation (IWF), and South West Grid for Learning (SWGfL), for the Charity Collaboration of the Year prize.

The Charity Times Awards celebrate best practice in the UK charity and not-for-profit sector, with the winners to be announced on 9 September 2021 at the London Marriott Hotel in Grosvenor Square.

The Independent Agency Awards

Elsewhere, the Safer Internet Day media campaign – coordinated by Stand Agency – has been shortlisted for Best Media Campaign at the Independent Agency Awards. The campaign created 126 million opportunities to see and hear coverage and 92 individual pieces of print, online and broadcast coverage.

Will Gardner OBE, CEO of Childnet International and Director of the UK Safer Internet Centre, said:

Safer Internet Day 2021 was bigger than ever before. We saw more conversations happening, more downloads of resources and so many young people taking the Safer Internet Day Quiz that it caused the UK Safer Internet Centre website to crash!

Working collaboratively across all three UK Safer Internet Centre charities, alongside our PR partner Stand, was key to this success. This collaborative approach extended to the many external stakeholders who joined and supported the campaign.

Through a clear and adaptable communications strategy, we were able to reach media on a vast scale, resulting in a 150% per cent + media reach increase from our 2020 campaign.

A Stand Agency spokesperson added:

We love working collaboratively with the UK Safer Internet Centre year on year. We were thrilled to work with the team again on Safer Internet Day 2021 and to have adapted our media strategy to make it the most successful ever, despite the ongoing challenges for education during the pandemic.

It’s an achievement everyone involved in is extremely proud of, and we look forward to working with the team again in 2022.

Find out more about the work of the UK Safer Internet Centre, including its awareness raising, helpline, hotline and youth participation services, or find similar information for Safer Internet Centres throughout Europe.

Discover more about Safer Internet Day more generally at www.saferinternetday.org. The next edition will be celebrated on Tuesday, 8 February 2022.

This article was originally published by the UK Safer Internet Centre and is republished here with permission.