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.