Recipients

The HeSCA Media Festivals are one of the most significant international forums for health science media. A goal of the Health and Science Communications Association is to recognize individuals and organizations whose efforts result in excellence in health science media production.

Now in its twenty-ninth year, the Festivals have annually drawn entries clearly reflecting the concern and priorities of the health science community during the past year. It is interesting to note that a review of these catalogs over the past will mirror international emphasis on the social, health and human welfare issues of the day.

2008 Award recipients

Judging for the competitive Festivals is completed prior to the HeSCA Annual Meeting. Festival

winners are announced at the Festival Awards Ceremony during the Annual Meeting. Each Festival jury has representatives from production and instructional design personnel. The larger Festivals may be judged in a two tiered competition, with the finalists receiving a complete judging review from a second panel of peers. Content specialists are consulted as required. All Festival entries are judged against an established set of criteria. Entrants receive a summary of the judges’ ratings.

The award structure for the 2009 HeSCA Media Festivals consist of three award levels based upon production quality: Bronze, Silver and Gold. Bronze awards will be presented to those productions which achieve an “excellent” rating by a peer review panel using an objective scoring system. Silver awards will be awarded to those productions which the peer review panels deem to be of superior quality from among the bronze winners. Silver award winning entries may advance to the gold level for further review. Gold awards will be presented to those entries which are representative of the very best in Health Science Communications. These awards will be presented in special ceremonies at the HeSCA Annual Awards Banquet.