Austyn Close

Account Director

Austyn Close is an exceptional PR and Communications young leader, excelling in driving global impact for purpose-led organisations. Austyn’s degree in History and International Relations with a focus on East Asian History from SOAS underpins his global mindset. Austyn is also an alumni of the British Council’s Generation UK programme during which he lived and worked in Shanghai, China for an integrated APAC communications agency and pan-China mobile application, BonApp. Across his career, Austyn has delivered integrated and creative communications campaigns drawing attention to critical global issues including gender equality and women in leadership, public health inequalities, and education access for underserved communities. He has a strong personal commitment to increasing representation in the PR and communications industry, having grown up in Northern Ireland and seen the importance of community engagement and representation in action. He has led internal employee support queer networks in his previous agencies and actively builds inclusive and welcoming environments to ensure his colleagues thrive. Austyn has contributed to building a strong commercial mindset at Atalanta and helped to deliver its best-ever financial results in his first full year with the agency. He is an outstanding talent in the industry and fully deserves the recognition of his peers that winning this award would provide.