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CEOP scoops top film awards

CHILD EXPLOITATION AND ONLINE PROTECTION CENTRE News Release issued by The Government News Network on 2 April 2007

The Child Exploitation and Online Protection (CEOP) Centre has scooped gold, silver and bronze awards at the prestigious International Video and Communication Awards (IVCA).

The videos, produced for the 'ThinkuKnow' (http://www.thinkuknow.net) internet safety campaign by Straker Films, powerfully depict child victims of online grooming with the message "have fun, stay in control, know how to report".

Among the honours received by the videos at the IVCA ceremony in London on Friday 30th March 2007 were Best Public Charity and Public Welfare Film, Best Education Film, Best Editing and Best Corporate Image for Making Every Child Matter.

The 'ThinkuKnow' campaign was launched in September 2006 and the interactive presentation is being delivered in schools by over 1000 police officers, teachers and child protection teams.

Over 500,000 schoolchildren across the UK have received 'Thinkuknow' so far and the campaign is on target to reach one million children by the end of the school year.

Jim Gamble, Chief Executive of the Child Exploitation and Online Protection (CEOP) Centre said:

"I feel very proud that the channel for our critical messages about internet safety has been recognised in this way. The 11-16 year old age group is notoriously difficult to reach which is why we set up our own dedicated youth panel to help with our message delivery. It is a tribute to the CEOP education team and delivery by Straker Films that they have taken those youth panel recommendations and made such powerful productions that are really hammering our messages home. After all safeguarding against child sex abuse is a very difficult subject to cover - it is even harder to deliver face to face with children - these films help us do just that."

This is the second time that the campaign material has been honoured: it won Gold for Best narration and performance and Silver for Best Director at the New York Film Awards earlier this year.

NOTES TO EDITORS:

1) The IVCA awards honoured CEOP in the following categories:

GOLD
Best Public Charity and Public Welfare Film for Claire's Story/ Thinkuknow
Best Education Film for Tom's Story
Best Editing for Claire's Story/ Thinkuknow
Best Health and Safety film
Best Narration and Performance

SILVER
Best Corporate Image for Making Every Child Matter
Best Director

BRONZE
Best Director for Claire's Story/ Thinkuknow
We also won 2 awards at the New York Film and TV Festival earlier this year.

2) The education programme - ThinkuKnow - is being rolled out to schools, foster homes, youth clubs and other environments on a region-by-region basis and will initially be focused on engagement with 1 million children across England, Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland. The package will include both online and offline resources and all children are being encouraged to visit http://www.thinkuknow.net with their parents where they will find safety first advice as well as the online reporting mechanism.

3) The Child Exploitation and Online Protection (CEOP) Centre is a law enforcement agency and works in both online and offline environments. Full information on all areas of work as well as online safety messages and access to online reporting can be found at http://www.ceop.gov.uk or for children at http://www.thinkuknow.net.