The SMP Awards celebrates mail’s people and passion

The Strategic Mailing Partnership (SMP) has celebrated the outstanding people, campaigns and businesses shaping the future of the UK mail industry, as more than 300 guests gathered at The Steel Yard, London, for the SMP Awards and Networking Evening 2026.

Presented by Mark Stephenson, Vice Chair of the IPIA and founder of The Spark Organisation, the evening recognised achievement across four categories – Mail Performance, Bright Futures, Sustainable Campaign and, for the first time, Lifetime Achievement.

Lucy Swanston, Chair of the SMP, said: “What makes these awards so important is that they celebrate the complete picture of what makes mail successful – brilliant people, powerful partnerships, innovation, sustainability and, ultimately, measurable results for customers.

“It has been a challenging period for our industry, but the atmosphere in the room demonstrated the energy, resilience and confidence that exists across the mail community. There is a great deal to be proud of.”

Promoting brilliance and impact

The headline Platinum Mail Performance Award was presented to Whistl Doordrop Media and Paragon for their Boots Opticians campaign, which used an innovative targeting approach to identify high-potential stores and select the households most likely to respond, delivering an impressive return on investment.

Susie Idle, Business Development Director, Whistl Doordrop Media said: “We are so pleased to have won this award – it really means a lot. The partnership between Paragon and Whistl is so solid, and what we can provide to customers is fundamental to how they have managed to recruit more customers. Door drop has been the absolute best channel for them – the format was fundamental to the success of this campaign.”

Gold in the Mail Performance category went to Precision Proco and PDV for their personalised direct mail campaign for Vintage Cash Cow. PDV and Marketreach secured Silver for their work with Scrivens Opticians and Hearing Care, while Webmart and Paperplanes received Bronze for their programmatic mail campaign for Dukes Hill.

The Bright Futures Gold Award went to Francesca Baker, Special Projects Manager, MPS Marketing Services, recognising her resilience, initiative and ability to step into senior responsibilities during a period of significant change.

Francesca commented: “I am proud of what I have done and I am completely shocked. I was not expecting this win at all. I read the other entries and was adamant I would not get the award, so I feel incredibly privileged.”

Silver went to Isobel Arnold of Paragon, Bronze to Callan Danvers of Paragon Solutions, with Samuel Malanda of Paragon Highly Commended.

Celebrating achievement and the future

Sustainability was also firmly in the spotlight, with Webmart taking Gold in the Sustainable Campaign Award for its work with the Woodland Trust on its Broadleaf member magazine. The project calculated and reduced sizeable emissions, while introducing greater transparency and a commitment to ongoing environmental measurement. APS Group was Highly Commended.

Tom Maskill, Chief Client Officer, Webmart enthused: “The future of mail is sustainable growth. It is great to have won the Sustainability Award – it is really important to us as a business. We are a certified B Corp and we have just won the King’s Award for sustainability this year, so to have been recognised again with this award is fantastic.”

A particularly poignant moment came with the presentation of the SMP’s inaugural Lifetime Achievement Award to Bob Carter of BBS, recognising a career that has helped pioneer technologies transforming the way the industry manages data, processes addresses and delivers mail.

Lucy added: “Alongside recognising the next generation through Bright Futures, it felt absolutely right that we should also honour those whose careers have helped build the industry we have today. That combination of experience and emerging talent gives me enormous confidence in mail’s future.”

The evening was supported by Gold Sponsors Whistl, Marketreach, and a broad group of Bronze Sponsors – while The Printing Charity, IPIA and Digital Printer Magazine also providing ongoing support.

Jon Marsh, Commercial Director, CFH Docmail – an SMP Awards and Networking Evening sponsor – summed up the inspirational atmosphere at the event: “Mail is still by far the best way of communicating with your client if you want them to get a response. We send out 80 million documents every year, so print and mail has been a massive part of our business since 1977. It will always be a huge part of our business, and that is why we sponsored the event – the future of mail is fantastic.”

For the SMP, the night ultimately reflected something bigger than the trophies themselves – an industry continuing to prove the value, relevance and performance of mail within the wider communications landscape.