Lithuanian Paralympic PR campaign wins major award

A public relations campaign about Lithuanian Paralympians competing at the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games has been acknowledged as the country’s best sports communication campaign of the year by the Lithuanian Union of Sports Federations.

The campaign, which launched in June 2016, included the opening of a Paralympic square “Road to Rio” in the heart of Lithuanian capital Vilnius, a public farewell event attended by the President of Lithuania Dalia Grybauskaite, the raising of public awareness in the hometowns of all Lithuanian Para athletes, a torch relay, and other media-related activities.

“The Paralympic Games were never broadcasted live on Lithuanian television and not even one journalist was accredited at a Paralympic Games before Rio,” said Vilma Venckutonyte, initiator and project manager of the Lithuanian Paralympic PR campaign. “That is why there was a huge lack of information on Para sports in Lithuania. I made a commitment to fill in this gap. The Paralympic sports communication campaign had a break-through effect among society and on a state level.”

At Rio 2016, Lithuania had a team of 13 athletes and won two gold (shot put and goalball) and one silver medal to round off its best ever Paralympic performance.