BP’s “Warrior” with Ilham Zakiyev wins Cannes Gold Award

Baku, December 26, AZERTAC A giant man walking from darkness to light – the way that has led him to be the best he can be. The man is Ilham Zakiyev – twice Paralympics, twice world and seven times European champion, who fell into darkness after a bullet blinded him in the Garabagh war at the age of 18 and who then discovered the Energy Within to become the legendary “Warrior”. BP Azerbaijan has been sponsoring Ilham Zakiyev since the London 2012 Games and BP Group made a video featuring the company`s ambassador athlete. The video called “Warrior” was one of 8 films created for BP’s ‘Energy Within’ campaign and was released in the run up to the Rio 2016 Games, supporting the International Paralympic Committee (IPC). It has to date been watched by 18 million people across the world and has won three prestigious international awards. Two awards from the Cannes Corporate Media & TV Awards 2016 - ‘Cannes 2016 Gold Winner’ in the category: Marketing Communication B2C and ‘Cannes award’ in the category: Fundraising, Non-profit, CSR. The third award came from the EVCOM Clarion Awards 2016 where the “Warrior” was Highly Commended in the category: Social (Screen). The EVCOM Clarion Awards are the leading event and film communication awards that recognise performance in CSR and sustainability, including environment, diversity, equality, community, charity initiatives, education, ethical, health and welfare.