LONDON—The International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness (IAPB) is celebrating winning two international awards: for Association of the Year; and Best Campaign of the Year for its Love Your Eyes Campaign. The awards were announced last Friday by the Association of Associations Executives at their annual International & European Association Awards ceremony. On winning Association of the Year, the judges recognized IAPB as “A wonderful example of how a cause can be advocated at a very high level yet translated and implemented very locally. Very nicely thought-through, planned, and eventually executed with tangible results.”

Commenting on the success Peter Holland, chief executive of IAPB said, “We are delighted and proud to win this award, which belongs to all our members around the world. We are a growing organization with over 200 members working together for a world where eye health is accessible, available and affordable to everyone.

“In recent years, together with our members, we have achieved the first ever UN Resolution on Vision, worked with the World Health Organization (WHO) on global targets for Cataract and Refractive Error, achieved a landmark commitment from Commonwealth Governments on School Eye health and have launched our Love Your Eyes campaign. It is a great honor to be recognized at the International & European Association Awards,” Holland said.

 
 
IAPB also won Best Campaign of the Year at the same awards ceremony for its #LoveYourEyes campaign. The judges said the campaign was a "visually very attractive, well thought out campaign that has grown exponentially and still has potential left to grow further.”

Simon Darvill, director of communications, campaigns and events at IAPB said, “Together with our members we have built an award-winning campaign, with the simple message to Love Your Eyes. To achieve a world where no one experiences unnecessary or preventable sight loss, and everyone can achieve their full potential, our Love Your Eyes campaign is calling on governments and businesses to make eye health accessible, available and affordable for everyone by 2030.

"The high point of the campaign each year is World Sight Day, which this year is on October 13 and we look forward to more people around the world getting involved in the campaigning and working together to raise the issue of eye health up the global agenda,” Darvill said.

IAPB is the overarching alliance for the global eye care sector with almost 200 members worldwide drawn from NGOs and civil society, corporate organizations, professional bodies and research and eyecare institutions. The Association of Associations Executives supports association executives to increase the value and effectiveness of membership, events, products and services and the strength and influence of their organization, as well as their personal and professional skills and competencies.

The AAE's International and European Association Awards recognize success and sharing the know-how across associations. The awards program is a non-profit-making initiative where nominees pay a low admin fee for entering. The awards are supported by the most distinguished associations and societies, and have the highest reputation for fair and good practices.