Bica 2010: a new name for the contest

by Silvia Musso

After the change of the last edition in 2009 that saw the event shift from Venice to Rome and the renewal of the form and content, Bica, promoted by Federambiente, marks its sixth year for alternative important news. The name of Biennial International Environmental Communication has become the International Exchange of Environmental Communication. Changing the name is not only a formality, but also a change in “identity”. From this year, in fact, given the success of last year, Bica will change from being released every two year to become an annual event.

However the news is not limited to this. If indeed the goal of Bica continues to be the search for the best environmental communication campaigns that are carried out by the public and private companies which provide public services in the areas of urban public utilities, electricity, gas and water, this year they also wanted to change, or rather broaden, the voting system. To decide upon the work most worthy of an addition will be a panel of leading experts, as well as a public vote. On the website, www.bicaonline.it, it is possible to see the campaigns, find useful information and, of course, vote. Be careful. You can only vote once per year, so evaluate and choose carefully who you want to give your important vote to. The two channels will count the vote, in fact, equally for both the allocation of the prize for best campaign and the five runner up prizes.
Within the Bica 2010 Competition there will also be the “Special Prize for Publicity Progress”, organized in collaboration with the Foundation for Public Progress and awarded to the environmental campaigns judged best in terms of “social communication”.
Ten campaigns will be selected which will be voted for by the public during the event itself on the 26th and 27th of October at assigned information points.
The campaigns that get the most public votes will be rewarded with a plaque.

We believe that, since the ultimate target of any campaign of environmental and social communication is the citizens, making them the protagonist of the voting mechanism is a great method of customer satisfaction.

The final new consideration to this sixth edition, which we believe should be pointed out, lies in in the international figure of the program. From this year forward Bica intends to draw attention beyond national borders and to analyze the most significant experiences in the field of environmental communication. For the sixth edition, the choice fell on France and the Débat Public.
For those interested to pursue this issue which is not widely known in Italy, France and the intervention indicates the “Débat Public” on the great public works of Jean-Francois Beraud, Secretary General of the National Committee of the Débat Public (CNDP, France), Wednesday October the 27th at 10 o’clock.