Simon Hughes, Eventia vice-chairman and director of live events at the soon-to-be-defunct Central Office of Information (COI), has been recognised at the IVCA Fellowship Awards for his achievements in the communications industry.

Hughes, who joined COI in 2002, was awarded the ‘Career in Industry’ title at the 2011 IVCA Fellowship Lunch which was held in the Cholmondeley Room at the House of Lords.

Two Fellows and one Career in the Industry Award are made each year. Hughes joins a list of previous recipients which includes John Simpson CBE, Martha Lane Fox, Sir David Frost, Lord Bragg, Lord Browne, Lord Attenborough, Moira Stuart OBE, Kevin Spacey, Peter Bazalgette, Sir Trevor McDonald OBE and Ridley Scott. Last year, Graham Frazer, international events development director at global communications agency Imagination, was made a Fellow of the IVCA.

Following public sector cuts, the COI was scrapped and will cease to exist come March 2012. Hughes has been working with colleagues to advise the Cabinet Office transition team on the design of a new system for government communications. Hughes and his team have helped to deliver events such as the G20 London Summit, celebrations for the Queen’s Golden Jubilee weekend, the New Year’s Eve firework display in London and a host of seminars, conferences and road shows around the UK.  

He said: “I’m extraordinarily grateful to the IVCA for giving me this award, which is recognition of the award-winning work that my team and the brilliant event agencies that we work with have produced in the last 10 years. Working with the IVCA to promote the use of creative communication in its many forms has long been a passion of mine, so this was a real honour for me.”

Pictured: Simon Hughes