Baton Rouge – Louisiana Spirit, the crisis counseling program through the Department of Health – Office of Mental Health, was recently honored for its 2007 advertising campaign with three awards at the 2008 New Orleans Addy Awards.  The Addy Awards is the world’s largest advertising competition, with over 60,000 entries annually.  The entries submitted by Louisiana Spirit included pictures, television and radio commercials encouraging hurricane survivors to continue down the path of recovery.

 Louisiana Spirit received “Silver” awards in the following categories:

  • PSA Multimedia Campaign (print, outdoor and radio)
  • Print Campaign
  • Print advertisement  “You’re rebuilding you”

 Louisiana Spirit partnered with Zehnder Communications, a strategic and creative advertising agency with offices in New Orleans and Baton Rouge, for this campaign.  The advertisements, which feature photos of hurricane survivors with messages including “You’re rebuilding you” and “Rebuilding begins with families,” encourages citizens to take care of the well-being of themselves and their families.

 “We are excited to receive these awards and very proud of the effort our staff and Zehnder Communications put in to make this possible,” said Jennifer Kopke, assistant secretary for DHH’s Office of Mental Health. “We want our messages as well as the work our staff is doing in communities all over the state to continue to encourage citizens to help themselves, their families and their communities to recover and move forward together.”

 The three Silver Addy awards this year raises Louisiana Spirit’s total to 11 Addys over the past two years.  The 2008 winning entries will now move to the regional competition for consideration.

 Louisiana Spirit is a free counseling service that was formed in response to the sudden increase of Louisiana residents facing post-hurricane stress issues.  Louisiana Spirit was created as a federal/state partnership, and receives all of its funding from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). The funding is administered through the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).

 For more information about Louisiana Spirit, contact Pierre Washington at (225) 219-5031 or (225) 803-4592, or visit its Web site,www.louisianaspirit.org.

 

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