Communications Nova Scotia Staff Receive Gemstone Awards

Helping teens cope with depression, educating the public about Mi'kmaw history and culture and encouraging teenage girls to make positive choices about their future are some of the reasons that Communications Nova Scotia has won awards for it's communications projects.

Staff members of Communications Nova Scotia received Gemstone Awards Tuesday, Nov. 7, from the Canadian Public Relations Society.

The awards recognize public relations practitioners from the Atlantic region who have made outstanding contributions to the profession and who demonstrated innovation and creativity in communications programming in the past year. They are broken into two categories, the Jasper Award and the Amethyst Award.

John Soosaar, producer and communications advisor, Office of Aboriginal Affairs; Alan Blackwood, editor; Alex Rankin, assistant editor; and Terry Fulmer of Pine Tree Productions, director, received the Jasper Award in audio-visual presentation for the video "Wabanaki: People of the Dawn." The award recognizes excellence in adherence to quality, presentation and strategic technical applications that meet public relations objectives and goals.

The video chronicles the major discovery of more than 20,000 Mi'kmaw artifacts dating back more than 8,000 years when Nova Scotia Power reduced the water levels of the Mersey River to maintain the area's dams in 2004. Mr. Soosaar saw the event as an opportunity to develop the film to educate people about Mi'kmaw heritage.

"The province is in negotiations on Treaty and other related issues with the Mi'kmaq and the federal government," said Mr. Soosaar. "The Office of Aboriginal Affairs is anxious to make Nova Scotia more familiar with Mi'kmaw history and culture."

Mr. Soosaar added that the video was well received by the native and non-native community. It will be included in the Grade 10 and 11 curriculum. Wabanaki: People of the Dawn, part two is already in the works.

Sherri Aikenhead and the mental health team at the Department of Health received a Jasper award for excellence in print for the development of a booklet to help teens cope with depression. The booklet -- titled Depression Creates Moments Like This, Happiness Creates Moments Like This -- provides a variety of information, including signs of depression and how to get help.

"It's nice to receive an award in your home province, to be honoured by your colleagues,"said Ms. Aikenhead.

More than 10,000 copies of the booklet have been distributed in English and French as far away as New York and Florida. "It's a real testament to the people who worked on it," Ms. Aikenhead said. The booklet, which also picked up a 2006 Canadian Public Relations Society Award of Merit, is now in its third printing.

The Advisory Council on the Status of Women also received a Jasper award for the print publication Guide for Girls. The guide aims to help teenage girls make good decisions about their future and includes topics such as preparing for work and career, relationships with friends and family, money management and community involvement.

"Creating this publication helped us to connect with teenage girls, find out what they are concerned about, and give them something useful," said Nicole Watkins-Campbell, communications advisor at the Advisory Council on the Status of Women.

The publication was created in collaboration with writers donalee Moulton and Barbara Cottrell, members of the Hypatia Society, Nova Scotia Community College, IWK Health Centre, Phoenix House, and Antigonish Women's Resource Centre, and several groups of teenaged girls who contributed their ideas and energy throughout the process.

Melissa MacKinnon, communications advisor, Department of Health Promotion and Protection, also received an honourable mention in the low budget masterpiece category for the development of Communications Tips for the Department of Health and Communications Nova Scotia. Vicki Fraser, communications advisor at Tourism, Culture and Heritage received Award of Merit in internal communications for the department business plan launch.

Other awards received by Communications Nova Scotia staff this year include three Telly awards that went to the Communications Nova Scotia audio visual team for their work in creating the videos Sammy Snowplow and Back in Action, and a Health Care Public Relations Association Canada Hygeia Award that went to Ms. Aikenhead, Donna Chislett, communications advisor, and Rhoula El-Diri, webmaster, for the Nova Scotia wait times website.