TakeCareDownThere.org Wins 2009 Webby Award

PORTLAND, Ore.—Winners of the 13th Annual Webby Awards have been announced and Planned Parenthood Columbia Willamette is thrilled to have TakeCareDownThere.org, a micro-site created by Leopold Ketel & Partners, recognized with such a prestigious award. 

With nearly 10,000 entries and only five nominees per category, the competition for a 2009 Webby Award was tough.  Nominated in the health category, TakeCareDownThere.org competed against the likes of Lance Armstrong’s LIVESTRONG.com and WebMD, cementing it among many industry leaders. 

Hailed as the "Internet's highest honor" by the New York Times, The Webby Awards is the leading international award honoring excellence on the Internet.  Nominees are chosen by the International Academy of Digital Arts & Sciences, a group which includes the likes of Internet co-inventor Vinton Cerf, "Simpson's" creator Matt Groening, musician David Bowie, and Harvey Weinstein.

"We're incredibly honored that our site was selected for this esteemed award," said David Greenberg, PPCW President and CEO.  "With TakeCareDownThere.org, we have been able to reach thousands of teens and young adults throughout Oregon and SW Washington with important information about sexual and reproductive health."

Working with Leopold Ketel & Partners, one of the Northwest’s leading creative agencies, PPCW created TakeCareDownThere.org as a way to reposition the group as caretakers of reproductive health.  The interactive Web site includes nine vignettes that help educate teens and young adults in a way that isn’t stuffy or scary.  The Web site was intended to disarm people, to make them laugh or smile and to feel like Planned Parenthood was a resource worth recommending to their friends.  The site caught the attention not only of young women locally, but also of people all over the world.  In the first four months of its launch, nearly 200,000 people visited the campaign’s Web site.

Planned Parenthood Columbia Willamette (PPCW) is the largest non-profit family planning and reproductive rights organization in Oregon and Southwest Washington. Since 1963, PPCW has successfully carried out its mission of providing, promoting and protecting access to quality reproductive and sexual health care. Each year, almost 60,000 women, men and teens visit one of PPCW’s eleven health centers. We provide a wide range of education programs and health care services, including low-cost contraceptives, emergency contraception, annual gynecological check-ups, breast exams, cervical cancer detection and treatment, testing and treatment of sexually transmitted diseases, and pregnancy testing and options counseling. Approximately five percent of PPCW’s services are for first term abortion care. For more information, visit www.ppcw.org.