Presenting the inaugural award, IDM managing director Derek Holder said that were it not for Watson "there would not be an Institute of Direct Marketing".
Holder acknowledged Watson's work for the charity as its first chairman and as a trustee for 16 years, saying he had inspired thousands of young people in the industry.
Watson started his career as a messenger at Brunnings Advertising after seeing a TV programme that said "you can earn as much as 拢20,000 a year as a copywriter".
He excelled in the industry and launched his own agency, Trenear-Harvey Bird & Watson, with Drayton Bird in 1977, which went on to become OgilvyOne.
He started WWAV with Rinalda Ward and Chris Albert in 1981, which grew to employ over 1,000 people and had billings of more than 拢100m.
At WWAV, his work on the NSPCC account made it into one of the biggest fundraisers in the UK and in turn attracted most of the major UK fundraisers as clients, as well as major car brands Porsche, Volvo and Renault. He started his current agency Watson Phillips Norman in 2002.
Students of the IDM's graduate summer school and the winners of its National Student Marketing Competition were also awarded at the event held at the Four Seasons in London on Thursday night.
Two teams from the University of Leeds won a gold and highly commended award, with a group from University of West of England winning silver, and De Montfort University's team being highly commended.
Terry Hunt, chairman of EHS Brann, who awarded the student prizes, said he believed what was needed to be a great direct marketer was a "love of selling".
Dawn Orr, chairman of Axiom Data, also announced that IDM was in the process of developing a website to better showcase direct marketing talent, and was creating a new scheme for recruiting sixth-form students.
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