The Association of Dental Groups’ (ADG) comms team won Highly Commended at the Public Relations & Communications Association (PRCA) Public Affairs Awards 2026 hosted at London’s Marriott Hotel in Grosvenor Square, London – on 25th February.
The ‘Creating Dental Oases’ campaign which sought to offer solutions to the issue of ‘Dental Deserts’, was entered into the Trade Body/Voluntary Sector Campaign of the Year category. The Highly Commended was awarded to ADG’s Director of Communications, Kate Clark (KCPR KateClark PR).
The winning submission:
The ADG ‘Creating Dental Oases’ whitepaper published in June 2025, focused on the massive gap in the dental workforce and the solution deploying international dentists can offer. By highlighting case studies including a dentist with a master’s degree from Egypt, working in McDonald’s whilst in the long Overseas Registration Examination (ORE) registration queue, the story got significant national news pick up. Three weeks later the resulting press interest triggered a statement by the minister of state for the department of health and social care at a televised select committee session, during which Stephen Kinnock MP demanded a plan from the General Dental Council (GDC) to unblock the ORE bottleneck.
Neil Carmichael, Executive Chair, ADG said: “I am delighted that the ADG’s ‘Creating Dental Oases’ report and PR campaign got the recognition it deserved. We launched this white paper last year in the quest to find solutions to the UK’s ‘Dental Deserts’. We must fill the gap in the dental workforce which is currently 2,700 dentists-short across the NHS and Private sectors. This initiative triggered a response amongst policymakers to make a change, and we are very proud of that.
“The winning submission that brought into focus the personal stories of highly trained dentists who are currently having to flip burgers in McDonalds’ whilst waiting in the queue to take the dentist registration exam was a creative approach – which was recognised by the judges. This is the second award this PR campaign has won, having picked up the ‘Excellent use of PR’ award at the Dental Industry Awards in December 2025. Congratulations to Kate and the team!”
