HBCU Mental Health Promotion Campaign 2011

About the Challenge

Purpose:

To utilize the creative talents of HBCU students to produce a communication campaign to raise awareness and education about mental health, its impact on the overall well-being of students and associated impacts on academic performance. The campaign should emphasize positive behaviors and benefits of peer support.

A successful communication campaign will:

• Capture the viewer’s attention
• Convince the viewer that they can make a difference
• Make every word and image count
• Use emotions to inspire and motivate the viewer
• Clearly calls the viewer to action

Categories:

Campaigns can be developed for any of the following categories.

Mental Health “Super Sized” - Efforts in this category are expected to reach 500 or more students and may include activities incorporated into health fairs, athletic events, club activities, student orientations and/or seminars. This category may be the perfect fit for smaller HBCUs with multiple sites as well as for the larger campus challenged with circulating information across a broad group of students.

“Priceless Partners”- Campaigns in this category will engage campus or community media outlets such as radio, newspaper, television stations to disseminate mental health promotion and awareness messages. Community providers and churches may also be willing to support campus-based activities. This category also presents a great opportunity for multiple departments and offices on a campus to work together.

“Open Mic”- Stories and music instill hope, build support and promote wellness. Campaigns in this category will leverage resources such as SAMHSA’s Mental Health Recovery Campaign to engage students in sharing stories to promote mental health. Students may want to use music as the medium for sharing messages about the importance of good mental health as with, "Used 2 Be Me...Our Stories Through Music”, breaking the silence and stigma of depression in our youth community, by showing what depression
looks like, sounds like and feels like... One youth...One story...One song at a time, www.youtube.com/used2bemeourstories

“Double Ditto” - Submissions in this category will use existing promotional materials as the foundation for building mental health awareness on campus. This category is ideal for the small campus or group that may not have additional resources for materials/products. This category works well when the vision is large, but the budget is small.

Guidelines:

1. By entering the competition, the entrant warrants that an entry is an original work created by the entrant and that the use of reproduction of the entry by the sponsors will not infringe the copyright or any other intellectual property of any third party.
2. The topic must be on mental health awareness (promotion, prevention of mental illness, treatment and/or recovery). Submission must not contain material that is inappropriate (i.e., depicting negative images and/or stereotype of mental illness, or behaviors that are harmful) indecent, obscene and defamatory. Submission must adhere to their institution guidelines.
3. Audio and video entries will only be accepted in the following formats: WMV, WMA, WAV, and MP3. Audio and video entries must be only 30-seconds (1 megabytes (MB) long. Entries that are longer than 30-seconds will be disqualified. Print entry is limited to one page PDF. Please compress any large file prior to submission.
4. Schools can submit entries in multiple categories and there is no limit to the number of submissions per category or per institution. By submitting an entry, the contestant(s) give HBCU-CFE and SAMHSA the right to publish the PSA in part or in whole in any medium. Entrants must be cognizant of their institution policies and obtain the proper clearance prior to submission.

Formats:

1. Print category ideas include (but are not limited to) a magazine or newspaper advertisement, a poster, a brochure, photography, CD cover, a painting, etc. A hard copy of the print entry may be mailed to the HBCU-CFE (Attn: Christine Livingston, Morehouse School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, 720 Westview Drive, SW Atlanta, GA 30310). Please understand that these will not be returned. Print entries can also be submitted as a PDF document to media@hbcucfe.net. Here is an example of a print PSA found on: http://www.abovetheinfluence.com/the-ads/pdfs/I-Do-Me.pdf
2. Audio category ideas include (but are not limited to) songs, radio advertisements, sound tracks, etc. Audio submissions must be submitted in WMV, WMA, WAV, and MP3 formats. The length of the audio cannot be longer than 30-seconds. Submit your audio entry to media@hbcucfe.net.
3. Video category ideas include (but are not limited to) TV commercials, music videos, etc. Videos must be submitted in WMV, WMA, WAV, and MP3 formats. The length of the video cannot be longer than 30-seconds. Submit your video entry to media@hbcucfe.net.

Judging:

1. Submission will be uploaded to the HBCU-CFE website (www.hbcucfe.net). The voting period will start on Monday, January 24, 2011 and will conclude on Sunday, February 6, 2011.
2. Judging will be determined by the number of on-line votes. The winner and two honorable mentions will be determined by the following judging criteria: (1) Innovative Use of Materials (i.e., special effects, font, layout, sound, photographic quality, etc.); (2) Persuasion (How effectively the entry will influence beliefs, attitudes and behaviors of the target audience through powerful storytelling); (3) Attention Grabbing (How effectively the entry will attract the target audience's attention in socially appropriate manner); and (4) On-line votes.
3. On-line voting will be open to the public via a voting link on the HBCU-CFE website (www.hbcucfe.net). Voting will start on January 24, 2011 and end on February 6, 2011.

Background:

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) in collaboration with the Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) Center for Excellence has launched the second national HBCU Behavioral Health Promotion campaign, encouraging students across the 105 institutions to embrace the charge of making a difference on their campus. The competition winners will be featured in “Ledge Magazine” and recognized at the HBCU Behavioral Health Policy Academy in March, 2011. 

Aligned with SAMHSA’s goal to promote behavioral health awareness, the campaign competition encourages students to craft messages of hope and resilience to reinforce a few simple points:  prevention works, treatment is effective and recovery is possible. Success is possible for every student when the right supports are in place.  Without question, the voice of students can reach other students to make a significant difference in the quality of campus life.

For this competition, students have the option of working in teams or as individuals to design and implement a communication campaign designed to educate and provide strategies to HBCU students to help raise awareness and understanding of mental health issues on their campus and in their local community.

Students may choose to use materials available on SAMHSA’s web site or create unique designs and productions to raise awareness and understanding of behavioral health and associated impacts on academic performance.  Successful communication campaigns will call the viewer to action and engage their support to emphasize positive behaviors and the benefits of peer support. 

Join the HBCU Center for Excellence, use your voice to inspire and support - one network, serving many! 

How to Enter

Additional details, submission guidelines and information on how to enter is available at:  http://www.hbcucfe.net/pdfs/HBCU%20Mental%20Health%20Promotion%20Campaign%202011_Submission%20Guidelines.pdf.