Viva named the UK's Small PR Consultancy of the Year for second successive year

Rossendale based agency Viva has been named the UK's Small PR Consultancy of the Year at the CIPR Excellence Awards 2026, retaining the title it won last year.

The awards are organised by the Chartered Institute of Public Relations, the professional body for the UK's PR industry.

Judges praised Viva's "strong commercial performance and professionalism", its people-first model and its commitment to developing the next generation of PR professionals. They also recognised the agency's podcast, PR in the Real World.

Viva's submission highlighted six business objectives, all of which were achieved. These included maintaining fee income of £867,000 during a company restructure, increasing net profit by 16.1 per cent, retaining 100 per cent of key accounts, including BAE Systems and Eurofighter, and securing eight new clients across five sectors.

The UK title caps a standout year for the agency, which has also been named PR Agency of the Year at the Prolific North Champions Awards 2026 and Small to Medium PR Consultancy of the Year at the PRCA North England and Midlands DARE Awards 2026.

Tony Garner, Viva's founder and managing director, said: "Winning the UK title once could be luck. Winning it two years running is a team effort.

"Since we became employee-owned, every person here owns a piece of the agency, and now they own a piece of this award too.

"It belongs to them, and to the clients who trust us with their stories and push us to be better every year."

Lisa Egan-Woodhouse, director, added: "Eight new clients in a restructuring year tells you everything about how hard this group works for the people who trust us."