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Annenberg Civics Film and Websites Win Awards for Creativity and Communications

Three Annenberg Public Policy Center civics projects, a film and two websites, have been honored by the Hermes Creative Awards, an international marketing and communication competition run by the Association of Marketing and Communications Professionals (AMCP).

The documentary “The 19th Amendment: A Woman’s Right to Vote,” about the more than 70-year struggle for women to win the right to vote, won a Gold Hermes Creative Award. The 26-minute video, available on Annenberg Classroom, is a project of the Leonore Annenberg Institute for Civics at the Annenberg Public Policy Center (APPC) of the University of Pennsylvania, in partnership with The Annenberg Foundation Trust at Sunnylands. The amendment’s 100th anniversary will be marked this summer.

In addition*, “The 19th Amendment” video won:

  • A Silver Telly Award in the Non-Broadcast Education category. The Telly Awards was founded in 1979 to honor excellence in local, regional and cable television commercials. Non-broadcast video and television programming was added subsequently. The Telly Awards annually showcases the best work created within television and across video, for all screens.
  • A Clarion Award in the category Educational, Informational or Training Video Production. Distributed by the Association for Women in Communications, the Clarions honor excellence in clear, concise communications in more than 100 categories across a wide variety of disciplines, including advertising and marketing, books and CDs, brochures, magazines, newsletters, online media, photography, public relations, radio, and TV.

The film, which is close-captioned and comes with a lesson plan, was produced for the policy center by the Documentary Group as part of The Constitution Project, an award-winning film series exploring the Constitution.

Susan B. Anthony was arrested and indicted after voting in 1872. She argued unsuccessfully she had that right under the 14th Amendment.. From "The 19th Amendment: A Woman's Right to Vote."
Susan B. Anthony was arrested and indicted after voting in 1872. She argued that the 14th Amendment gave her the right. From “The 19th Amendment: A Woman’s Right to Vote.”

The film can be viewed here on Annenberg Classroom, a project of the APPC’s Leonore Annenberg Institute for Civics.

The redesigned websites for Annenberg Classroom and the Civics Renewal Network each won a Platinum Hermes Creative Award, the AMCP’s highest honor. Annenberg Classroom, relaunched in 2019 for Presidents Day, was designed by the APPC web development team of senior designer Zachary Reese, senior video producer Daniel Corkery, web developer Ruthie Fields, and IT/AV/web director Gary Gehman. Annenberg Classroom provides free, award-winning multimedia resources, including videos, games, books, timelines, and lesson plans, for teaching the Constitution.

Opening screen of the redesigned Annenberg Classroom site, which won a Hermes Creative Award
Annenberg Classroom

The Annenberg Classroom redesign also won a Clarion Award in the category Website: Existing – Original Design. Annenberg Classroom’s web redesign previously received “Special Kudos” from a panel of judges with the CSS Design Awards, a web design and development award platform that honors freelance designers, studios and agencies. Annenberg Classroom also was honored by a public vote for best UI design, best UX design, and best innovation.

The Civics Renewal Network, founded by APPC, is an alliance of more than 30 nonprofit, nonpartisan organizations that provide free online classroom resources for civics education. Among those organizations are the Library of Congress, the American Bar Association, the U.S. Courts, iCivics, the National Constitution Center, the U.S. Government Publishing Office, and the National Endowment for the Humanities’ EDSITEment Project. The site was also redesigned by Reese, Corkery and Fields.

Opening screen of the redesigned Civics Renewal Network site, which won a Hermes Creative Award
Civics Renewal Network

The Hermes Creative Awards program is administered by the Association of Marketing and Communication Professionals (AMCP), an international organization that consists of several thousand marketing, communication, advertising, public relations, digital media production, and freelance professionals. The group oversees awards and recognition programs, provides judges, and awards outstanding achievement and service to the profession. The award judges are, according to the group, industry professionals “who look for companies and individuals whose talent exceeds a high standard of excellence and whose work serves as a benchmark for the industry.”

Collage of historical images from the women's suffrage march held the day before the inauguration of Woodrow Wilson in Washington, D.C. From "The 19th Amendment: A Woman's Right to Vote."
Images from the women’s suffrage march held before Woodrow Wilson’s inauguration. From “The 19th Amendment: A Woman’s Right to Vote.”

*This post was updated July 6, 2020, with the Clarion Awards.