Ms Mary Davis and Ms Suzanne Weldon yesterday jointly won the Marketer of the Year award in Dublin for their work on the Special Olympics.

The runners up were Mr Jim Miley of the myhome.ie website and Mr William Doyle of Newbridge Cutlery.

The awards were run by Marketing magazine in association with Edelman Public Relations.

Ms Davis, who is now working on the St Patrick's Day celebrations, was chief executive for the Special Olympics World Games 2003, while Ms Weldon was director of marketing and communications.

Mr David Bunworth, chairman of the judging panel, said the event left a lasting impression on everyone and the marketing of it was inspired.

He said between SARS and war in the Gulf the event had overcome several obstacles.

He said: "The judges had an extremely hard task in selecting a winner from among the many strong nominations.

"Both Mary Davis and Suzanne Weldon have done an outstanding job in not only developing, but also marketing, one of the largest events ever to take place in Ireland."

"The judges were also extremely impressed by the impact of the games on the general attitude towards those with disabilities and also towards the concept of volunteering that was actioned by communities nation-wide," according to Mr Bunworth.

This is the eleventh year that the Marketer of the Year award has been presented.