In a ceremony at The Victory Services Club in London, hosted by the BBC arts editor Will Gompertz, Premiership Rugby was lauded for its partnership with Hitz. In the category, The G4S 4teen Programme won the silver award with Future Flames, Coca-Cola's sponsorship of the Olympic Movement taking bronze.

Earlier this year Hitz was honoured by being named the best Community Programme at the Sport Industry Awards 2012, which was followed by Premiership Rugby being shortlisted as the best governing body in sport at the Beyond Sport Awards.

Premiership Rugby runs the Hitz programme in partnership with the RFU, the Metropolitan Police, Active Communities Network, the Mayor's Office, the Rugby Football Foundation and rugby charity Wooden Spoon and it is delivered by the Premiership Rugby clubs. It targets young people at risk of anti-social behaviour and exclusion from school.

Hitz is based in the heart of the toughest inner city areas, introducing young people to rugby, helping build confidence and respect, whilst inspiring players of the future. It also identifies opportunities for apprenticeships, as well as workshops, training and education programmes for young people. Recently Hitz registered its 1000th participant.

"Hitz is a programme that the whole of the rugby world can be proud of," said Wayne Morris, Head of Community at Premiership Rugby. "This award demonstrates the impressive work being done by the programme, inspiring a generation of young people and how Premiership Rugby works effectively with both its private and public sector partners.

"At Premiership Rugby we have been delighted with the development of Hitz, which is managed by former England captain Helen Clayton. It goes from strength to strength and its potential to run across the whole of the country is clear."

This years success has allowed Hitz to expand out of London, starting programmes in Northampton and Bath with more clubs set to start in the next few months.

Judged by a panel of sponsorship, CSR and partnership experts and communications practitioners, the Corporate Engagement Awards were established by Communicate magazine, the UK's leading magazine for corporate communications and stakeholder relations, to celebrate and benchmark excellence in corporate partnerships and sponsorship and to point to the future of corporate engagement across all sectors.

Andrew Thomas, publisher of Communicate magazine said: "This year's Corporate Engagement Awards saw a 48% increase in entries, but if quality could be expressed in percentage terms it would be much higher. Maybe it was the start of the Olympics effect, but companies seemed much more articulate in stating their corporate sponsorship objectives and defining it in solid brand and reputation terms. All shortlisted companies have demonstrated a clear desire to fulfil their social contract; those that won, have excelled. We congratulate them all."