LONDON, October 15, 2015 /PRNewswire/ --

Grow Wild has come top in its category in the Digital Impact Award for 'Best Use of Digital in the Public Sector', after being shortlisted for their England flagship site voting campaign which took place last October.

Grow Wild was in the final two in the 'Best Use of Digital in the Public Sector' category and its award was announced at the Digital Impact Awards dinner on 14^th October 2015. The Digital Impact Awards are highly regarded as the industry benchmark for digital stakeholder engagement. The awards honour the best digital communications work across Europe.

Supported by the Big Lottery Fund and led by Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Grow Wild inspires communities, friends, neighbours and individuals across the UK to come together to transform local spaces, by sowing, growing and enjoying native wild flowers. Their work impressed the judges with the largest ever digital campaign focusing on wild flowers to attract public votes in England.

The campaign aimed to implement an integrated digital public voting campaign to achieve regional impact as well as local action. Grow Wild used integrated technology and tailored assets to attract 64,854 voters - 109% over their target - to vote for the community group they believe should receive a grant to use wildflowers to transform urban spaces and communities. The campaign earned 1.7m impressions on Facebook and 1.1m on Twitter, as well as attracting a lot of media attention securing 134 press articles with 3.4m circulation in total.

The public chose the winning flagship site 'The Tale of Two Cities' with 19,133 votes (30% of total) which transformed hectares of city space with colour and wildlife with free public activities, training, art, music and fun. The site also helped to bring communities in both Manchester and Liverpool together, thus transforming urban space and improving lives at the same time.

Philip Turvil, Programme Manager at Grow Wild, said:  

"Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew's Grow Wild team is incredibly proud to have used digital platforms to create such a powerful impact and we're delighted to have been recognised at these prestigious awards. We found that people were driven to vote by a deep sense of pride and connection with the past, coupled with the desire to improve space for the future. For the England flagship campaign, like the Scotland campaign before, digital communications have impacted on communities. We hope to be just as successful with the upcoming Wales and Northern Ireland flagship voting campaigns, running from 6^th October to 1^st November this year."

Grow Wild has awarded funding of £120,000 to two flagship sites in England and Scotland, allowing projects to bring people together and create inspiring communal spaces through sowing UK native wild flowers. Grow Wild's flagship voting campaign for Wales and Northern Ireland is now open online and by phone. For more information go to: http://www.vote.growwilduk.com .

Issued by Consolidated PR on behalf of Grow Wild 

Notes to editors:

The full shortlist for the awards can be found on the Digital Impact Awards website.  

Twitter @GrowWildUK #GrowWild #biglf and Facebook /growwilduk

SOURCE Grow Wild