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Dating Abuse Documentary by Constella Outshines Tough Competition for "Freddie" Awards

Jan. 2—The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) received two FREDDIE Awards in honor of a 30-minute documentary Constella produced for the Choose Respect initiative.

Sponsored by MediMedia, the annual FREDDIE Awards recognize excellence in documentaries, series, shorts, videos, DVDs, CD-ROMs, and websites that address health or medical issues for consumers or health care professionals. The award judges, who come from a variety of health and medical backgrounds, evaluate entries on content, educational value, originality, and production quality.

Causing Pain: Real Stories of Dating Abuse and Violence – a documentary Constella produced in partnership with Banyan Communications – received a FREDDIE Award in the behavioral diseases category outshining other nationally recognized finalists including ABC News: World News Tonight’s Quit to Live: Fighting Lung Cancer; Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s Crystal Fear, Crystal Clear; and Human Relations Media’s Abusing Over-the-Counter Drugs.

The 30-minute film was developed as part of the Choose Respect initiative – a national dating abuse prevention campaign that Constella developed and launched on behalf of CDC. It demystifies the issue of dating abuse for adolescents, using true stories told by teens, parents, and professionals who have either been in or witnessed abusive relationships. They describe their experiences and insights so that teens and parents can recognize and prevent dating abuse in their own lives or in the lives of their loved ones.

In addition to winning in the behavioral diseases category, the documentary was selected from among all of the winning entries across 34 award categories to receive the prestigious Helen Hayes Award of Distinction, which honors the finest educational entry of the year.

The “FREDDIES,” also known as the International Health & Medical Media Awards, were presented on Nov. 3, 2006 at a special ceremony in New York, New York. To learn more about the FREDDIE Awards, visit the FREDDIE Award's website.