MEDIA DIVISION, BLOG CATEGORY
AN AWARD OF EXCELLENCE GOES TO…TAPESTRIES OF HOPE!
Website: http://savehope.blogspot.com
The Challenge
Determine the best way to raise visibility for a critical human rights cause, as well as a documentary being made on that cause – the rape and abuse of young girls in Zimbabwe.
The Ingenious Proposal
Create a community blog to raise awareness and funds for a feature-length documentary on the issue of the abuse of young girls in Zimbabwe. Live-blog from the shoot in Zimbabwe and tap into the urge-to-act in the minds of socially-aware citizens and film enthusiasts.
The Call
Developed a simply designed blog (powered by Blogger), and live-blogged during the shoot in Zimbabwe.
The Success Story
The blog was used as the exclusive means of communication with fans and supporters when the film’s crew was arrested and detained in a prison in Zimbabwe. Huge support was mobilized through the blog and an associated group was created on Facebook. As a direct result from awareness created through the Tapestries of Hope blog and live-blogs from Zimbabwe, the Producer and Director of the documentary were invited to guest-blog on The Huffington Post, the #1 news blog in the world (see Michealene Risley’s and Anand Chandrasekaran’s blogs). The Facebook group now has over 875 members and an active community rallying around the cause. This also resulted in fundraising to the tune of over $5,000 to support the cause and to fund the efforts of the Girl Child Network in Zimbabwe.
MEDIA DIVISION, BLOG CATEGORY
AN AWARD OF MERIT GOES TO…POSTSECRET!
Website: http://postsecret.blogspot.com
The Challenge
Around the world, many people are troubled, depressed, angry, tormented and even resort to suicide because they feel they cannot tell others what haunts them the most. PostSecret began as an ongoing community art project where people could mail in their secrets anonymously on a homemade postcard. PostSecret’s founder, Frank Warren, wanted to give people a way to share their deepest secrets and lift their burdens, and needed a platform that would reach people globally.
The Ingenious Proposal
Create the PostSecret blog to encourage people to share their secrets as a way of preventing heartache and suicide. Invite people of all backgrounds and nationalities to send in creatively decorated postcards bearing secrets they have never before revealed.
The Call
For the past three years, Frank Warren has personally read every postcard sent to him, and many are posted on the PostSecret Internet blog and in published in books for the world to see.
The Success Story
People have told Warren that they recognized a hidden part of themselves on a stranger’s postcard. Others shared personal experiences of how talking about a painful secret had helped heal a lifelong relationship. These results are exactly what Warren wanted, as the site gives hope and frees people emotionally. Since November 2004, Warren has received more than 150,000 anonymous postcards. The website won two Webby Awards in 2006 and this year was named Weblog of the Year at the Seventh Annual Weblog Awards. The PostSecret project also received a special award from the National Mental Health Association for raising awareness and funds for suicide prevention. Frank Warren gives PostSecret presentations at college campuses, and holds Facebook events to sold-out crowds. He has published 4 PostSecret books.
