Barbara Taylor Bradford PR campaign receives top honours

Public relations expert Maria Boyle scooped a prestigious national award for a PR campaign she orchestrated for bestselling author Barbara Taylor Bradford.

Yorkshire-born Maria won the award for the best publishing campaign of the last quarter (September-December 2009) for her work with Leeds-born novelist Barbara Taylor Bradford.

Her campaign supported the publication of Taylor Bradford's latest novel, Breaking The Rules, published last September, along with the 30th anniversary of A Woman of Substance, the debut novel that made the author an instant worldwide bestseller.

In partnership with Barbara and her publisher, HarperCollins, Maria devised the creation of a special A Woman of Substance Awards which saw hundreds of brave, hard-working and talented women being nominated from across the world.

Amazingly, fellow Yorkshire woman Lisa Salmon, a married mother of two from Leeds, was crowned the winner by the author herself at the glittering awards event held at The Dorchester Hotel in London. Sarah, Duchess of York, Cherie Blair, Kay Burley of Sky News together with a host of celebrities attended the event organised by Maria and her team.

Maria, a married mother-of-three, learned she had won the prize at a London event organised by the Publishers' Publicity Circle last week.

Jo James of Waterstones was one of the judges for the award. She commented that the campaign was one of the most impressive she had seen for ages, ensuring Barbara Taylor Bradford's profile and her books were kept at the forefront of the media for over six months. The judges particularly liked the creation of the A Woman of Substance Awards and commended Maria and her team on its execution.

Maria says: "I am absolutely thrilled to win this award and over the moon that my efforts have been recognised by the cream of my profession. I love working in PR and could not have wished for a better client than Barbara and her publisher, HarperCollins.

"Barbara was a total dream to work with and is a real inspiration to all women about what hard work and pursuing your dreams can achieve."

Barbara Taylor Bradford adds: "Maria delivered the greatest PR campaign I've ever been involved with in the last 30 years. She is simply the best in the UK, in Europe and in the world."

Maria started her own business, MB Communications Ltd, four years ago. Today, west London based Maria advises a range of clients who are based in the UK, America, and Australia, including the world's largest educational publisher Pearson, cosmetics giant L'Oreal, publishers HarperCollins, Heinemann and Puffin, along with rainforest protection charity Cool Earth.