The partnership between the Slovenian National Paralympic Committee (NPC) and Lidl Slovenia that produced a successful campaign in raising awareness of Para athletes in the country has been recognised.

Their public relations project “Together in battle: Paralympic athletes and Lidl Slovenia!” received the Sporto Sponsorship Award, which was presented by the Slovenian Marketing Association.

“This is a great honour for National Paralympic Committee for Slovenia and our partner Lidl Slovenija,” said Drago Perko, public relations representative of NPC Slovenia.

"Among other things the jury said that the sponsorship was designed corporately and linked to the business objectives of the company, [and] the derivation of it was extremely sophisticated. They appreciated the consistency and the overall integration of campaigns and communications, and at the same time they stressed that they saw added value in raising awareness about disabled athletes.”

NPC Slovenia and Lidl Slovenia announced their partnership in February. One of their projects to raise awareness of Slovenian Para athletes was setting up an aesthetic photo exhibition “Energy of Inspiration” of athletes at the Arboretum Volcji in Ljubljana ahead of Rio 2016.

Sporto is the leading annual regional Sports Marketing and Sponsorship Conference that looks at international and contemporary issues of sports marketing and sponsorship, and organises expert lectures and discussions. The conference took place again in Portoroz, and hosted the Sporto Awards, presented by the Slovenian Marketing Association, recognising achievements in the business industry for successful marketing projects in sports.