Edinburgh Zoo Strikes Gold and Double Silver
In Giant Panda Zoo Awards 2012
Edinburgh Zoo has scooped three awards in the first ever Giant Panda Zoo Awards:
- Iain Valentine, Director of Giant Pandas at the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland (RZSS) won gold for the ‘Human Panda Personality’.
- Yang Guang (Sunshine) picked up silver for ‘Favourite Pandas Outside China’.
- The PR campaign for the first ever giant panda breeding season at Edinburgh Zoo also brought in a silver award.
Panda fans and enthusiasts from all over the world have been voting across ten different panda related categories for the first ever Giant Panda Zoo Awards 2012. Run by giant panda fan Jeroen Jacobs for panda fans all over the world, Giant Panda Zoo aims to spread the word about giant pandas in captivity and to make a difference in panda conservation.
Iain Valentine, Director of Giant Panda Project & Strategic Innovations at Edinburgh Zoo, said:-“For Edinburgh Zoo to have been nominated and shortlisted was alone a great privilege, but to have been voted for by panda fans across the world to win an award in all three categories is truly special.
“We’re delighted that our male, Yang Guang, is so popular with people in the UK and also internationally. With an outgoing character that actually seems to love an audience, the fact he has received this award after only being at Edinburgh Zoo for 12 months is very special. We’re also pleased that it’s Yang Guang’s turn for recognition now, after our female Tian Tian scooped one of the BBC’s Women of the Year back in 2011.
“I was lucky enough to pick up the gold award for Human Panda Personality; a great privilege for me and the wider team that I’m part of at Edinburgh Zoo; it’s very encouraging to think that our profile and work with giant pandas is hopefully raising the awareness of global giant panda conservation. The fact our PR campaign for the giant panda breeding season in spring 2012, that reached over 930 million people in 18 different countries, was also awarded a silver win also backs this up. Not only a wonderful first for Edinburgh Zoo, the Giant Panda Zoo Awards are a fun and engaging concept from Jeroen whose website and newsletters act as a great platform to pull focus to and increase awareness of the important conservation work for these iconic animals.”
For the full list of results please visit www.giantpandazoo.com
Founding Editor of The Edinburgh Reporter.
Edinburgh-born multimedia journalist and iPhoneographer.
