A Slough based campaign against modern slavery has won a prestigious national media award.

The Safer Slough Partnership’s 'Modern Slavery is Closer than you Think' campaign won the social impact category at the Outdoor Media Awards - a new category introduced this year. It beat other powerful campaigns including Justice4Grenfell and World Aids Day.

Nick Ashley, head of media and campaign planning for Tesco and also one of the judges for the category, said: “The winner grabbed our attention because it made a tangible difference to saving real lives in a specific community through a targeted and tailored outdoor campaign.”

Another judge said the campaign made her 'proud to work in advertising'.

In November 2018, Slough Borough Council launched on behalf of the Safer Slough Partnership its a multi-channelled campaign to raise awareness of modern slavery and its many guises and encouraging people to report instances of modern slavery they may have witnessed.

Modern Slavery is the illegal exploitation of people for personal or commercial gain. Victims are trapped in servitude, which they were deceived or coerced into and they feel they cannot leave.

There are four types of modern slavery – sexual exploitation, criminal exploitation, forced labour and domestic servitude.

A hard-hitting and memorable poster campaign was created that was used throughout the borough to raise awareness and encourage people to call the Modern Slavery Helpline.

The SSP was keen to ensure that all of the borough’s communities could engage in the campaign, so posters were also translated into Polish and Romanian and placed at strategic points in the borough. Statistical evidence shows that these communities in particular can be more at risk from instances of modern slavery.