Brighton and Hove's PR workers proved they were absolutely fabulous by sweeping the board at the industry's most prestigious awards ceremony.

Midnight Communications and The Priory Partnership grabbed 11 gongs between them at the Institute of Public Relations PRide Awards.

The extraordinary tally underlines the city's reputation as one of the PR industry's biggest and fastest growing talent pools outside London.

Midnight, of Foundry Street, Brighton, won the coveted best PR team award while Lloyd Gofton was named young communicator of the year.

The company, established ten years ago, also won awards for its work on the Notting Hill Carnival and an ad campaign for Fujifilm.

Among five other awards for the company were best business-to-business campaign and a "value for money" award for its consultancy work.

Meanwhile Priory, based in Frederick Terrace, Brighton, managed to convert its three nominations into three awards.

It won gold for its work on a publicly funded education campaign called Spiked which raised awareness of drug-assisted rape in the city.

The firm also struck gold for a national media campaign to promote Brighton and Hove's ground-breaking register office services.

These involved a facility for watching weddings live on the internet and the launch of the Pink Wedding Waiting list, promoting Brighton as the gay wedding capital.

The agency's third award was for a promotional campaign for the Learning and Skills Council Sussex to encourage more youngsters into further education.

Paula Seager, Priory PR director, said: "We were thrilled to win an award in each of the three categories we entered.

"We have a top-notch PR team who really deserve this recognition of their professional excellence. I'm really proud of them."

IPR chairman for Kent, Surrey and Sussex John de Mierre said the awards helped bolster the reputation and credibility of PR firms outside the capital.

He said: "Winning these awards is all part of the process of competing against our greatest rival, which is London.

"PR agencies across the county must do all they can to earn respect for our profession. I want to see Sussex PR top of the league for professionalism, creativity and contribution to business success."

Caraline Brown, founder and managing director of Midnight Communications, said: "It used to be that London was the only place for a go-ahead PR consultancy to flourish. But the recognition and success that we are achieving is a great reflection of the growing importance of Brighton and Hove as a centre of business excellence.

"It's great to have been recognised in such a broad range of categories and to win PR agency of the year was the icing on the cake.

"We have just moved into new premises and I am sure these awards bode well for the start of an exciting new era at Midnight."

East Communications, the only public relations agency in Brighton and Hove set up for the community and voluntary sector, was a runner-up.

Hannah Corbett, managing director of East Communications, which was praised for its low-budget newsletter, said it was an exciting time for her team.

The IPRP awards were held at the Goodwood Park Golf & Country Club, near Chichester.