The Commonwealth Secretariat Biennial Report

This is probably the most prestigious project I’ve ever worked on. It involved writing to leaders, governments and opinion formers of the Commonwealth’s 53 member states. My brief was to celebrate the progress these states had made in areas ranging from democratic and economic development to helping their young generations develop. As I found in my research, there are individuals and groups in the Commonwealth who have been quietly doing amazing work within or between their countries, and it was my task to tell their stories.

50,000 words

Apart from a novel I’ve written, this report was the biggest writing job I’ve ever completed – about 50,000 words. Originally, the client was going to hire a journalist. Then they decided a copywriter would better suit their needs. They wanted the stories to help sell the idea of the Commonwealth – to persuade stakeholders that the association was of great value.

In addition to writing the report, I also served as a photo editor, selecting appropriate pictures from the Commonwealth Secretariat’s own photo library and other sources.

If you want marketing with storytelling, there’s plenty of it here. The PDF shows how the report is structured, and includes a few of the stories.