A  public service announcement video for Help Save The Next Girl received a 2012 W3 Silver Award from the International Academy of the Visual Arts. The video was created by area public relations firm SAKinterMedia and advertising firm B2C Enterprises.

Help Save The Next Girl is a campaign started by Dan and Gil Harrington after their daughter was abducted and murdered after leaving a concert at John Paul Jones Arena in Charlottesville. This is the only campaign from western Virginia recognized in the competition.

The awards recognize creativity on the web, and the creative and marketing professionals who create award winning sites, programs and videos created for the web.

Here is the press release from B2C Enterprises and SAKinterMedia.

Roanoke, VA (January 2013) – The locally produced Help Save The Next Girl video PSA (HelpSaveTheNextGirl.com), created by SAKinterMedia and B2C Enterprises of Roanoke, VA gained international recognition last month when it received a 2012 W3 Silver Award from the International Academy of the Visual Arts (IAVA).  The W3 Awards honor creative excellence on the web, and recognizes the creative and marketing professionals behind award winning sites, marketing programs, and video work created for the web. In its seventh year, the W3 Awards received over 3,000 entries from ad agencies, public relations firms, Interactive agencies, web & graphic designers worldwide.

“We are honored to once again recognize creative excellence and are humbled to witness all the amazing work being done throughout the industry,” said Linda Day, Executive Director of the IAVA. “From everyone at the Academy, we congratulate our 2012 W3 Award entrants and winners for their contributions and commitment to the online world in which we live.”

The Help Save The Next Girl public service campaign was started in support of Dan and Gil Harrington’s efforts to empower young women and raise community awareness in the wake of their daughter’s murder.  Morgan Dana Harrington was a 20-year-old Virginia Tech student from Roanoke, Virginia who was
abducted on October 17, 2009 after leaving a concert at John Paul Jones Arena on the University of Virginia campus.  Her remains were found in January 2010 on a farm about eight miles away. No arrest has been made in connection with her murder.

“The Help Save The Next Girl message is so compelling and the campaign was brought to life in the wake of such a tragic community event,” said Stephanie Koehler, President of SAKinterMedia.  “Each person who worked on the project and everyone appeared in the PSA had an emotional connection to the case and it was apparent in the final product.”

The Help Save The Next Girl public service campaign was the only entrant from western Virginia to be recognized in the international competition.  Only a dozen interactive and advertising firms in all of Virginia received a W3 Award.

“It was a team effort on the part of a talented group of professionals including Motion Adrenaline and Brett Winter Lemon Photography,” said Bruce C. Bryan, President of B2C Enterprises.  “From the initial creative meeting to the final edit, we knew we had a special group of people making this project come to life.”

SAKinterMedia is a public relations, marketing and strategic communications firm servicing clients nationwide.  Led by Stephanie Koehler, SAKinterMedia has built a strong reputation for developing successful image and branding campaigns by focusing on the relationship between business and community.

B2C Enterprises is an award winning advertising, marketing and business development firm utilizing a mixture of traditional and new media resources. B2C Enterprises works with independent medical practices such as Vistar Eye Center and Jefferson Surgical Clinic; service industry leaders like Member One Federal Credit Union, ReBath and Delta Dental of Virginia; non-profit organizations like Habitat for Humanity in the Roanoke Valley, Help Save The Next Girl and Down by Downtown; and major regional retailers including Rick Woodson Honda, Reid’s Fine Furnishings, Black Dog Salvage and Northwest True Value and Lynchburg Hardware.