JSI Awarded Two Berreth Awards for Wisconsin Trafficking Prevention and Maternal Alcohol and Marijuana Awareness Campaigns
JSI is proud to have again been selected as a winner of two 2019 Berreth awards for Excellence in Public Health Communication.
JSI’s Wisconsin, We Need to Talk – About Youth Sex Trafficking campaign was awarded the Bronze prize for nonprofit Health Marketing while the Today is For Me. campaign was awarded the Silver award in corporate marketing. The Berreth awards are presented by the National Public Health Information Coalition (NPHIC) and recognize excellence in public health communication.
The main goal of the Wisconsin, We Need to Talk campaign was to inform the public that sex trafficking of Wisconsin youth under the age of 18 is an issue in urban, rural, suburban, and tribal communities throughout the state. The high-impact awareness campaign was funded by the Wisconsin Department of Children and Families and launched in June 2018. There are many individual, relationship, community, and societal level factors that make youth vulnerable to sex trafficking in the United States. JSI developed a website and series of posters, billboards, social media, and ads to raise awareness and to let people know how to recognize the signs of trafficking, talk about the issue, and how and where to report suspected trafficking.
Today is For Me. is a life-style campaign directed at women of child-bearing age who are making positive health choices for themselves before, during, and after pregnancy. The goal of the campaign is to empower women with information about the health consequences of alcohol and marijuana use on them and on a developing baby. The digital and social campaign was paired with a heavily researched intervention with health care professionals in New Hampshire, where the campaign is currently running. The campaign was supported through funding by the NH Charitable Foundation and endorsed by the NH Governor’s Commission on Alcohol and Other Drugs, Perinatal Substance Exposure Task Force.
Berreth Awards are presented in the areas of Risk Communication and Health Marketing for government, not-for-profit, and corporate agencies. The awards are named for the late Donald Berreth, former director of the Office of Public Affairs for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and NPHIC’s founder. A true believer in the importance of communicating openly and honestly about public health issues, Berreth is honored for his time, effort and interest in our work to represent the voice of public health.
JSI has won previous Berreth awards for various campaigns, including a Gold Award in 2018 for “Binge-Free 603: What’s Your Reason?”, a campaign that used positive messages to address knowledge, attitudes, and practices around excessive drinking among young adults in NH. JSI also received Berreth recognition for other health communications campaigns, including Tick-Free New Hampshire, Anyone.Anytime.NH, and HIV Test? I’m On It!.