Bethesda, Maryland (December 18, 2003) — Bonneville Communications received the 2003 Aesculapius Award for excellence in television PSAs (Public Service Announcements), American Speech-Language-Hearing Association received the 2003 Aesculapius Award for excellence in radio PSAs, and Rodale, Inc received the 2003 Aesculapius Award for excellence in websites. The 2003 Aesculapius Award winners were announced recently by Dr. Peter G. Goldschmidt, President and Founder of the Health Improvement Institute.

Bonneville Communications, Salt Lake City, UT, received the top honor for their television PSA, entitled Cynthia, produced for Huntsman Cancer Institute. Targeted towards those who have cancer, those who have the potential of getting cancer and their loved ones, the PSA was developed to increase awareness of the loved ones of cancer sufferers.

American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, Rockville, MD, received the top honor for their radio PSA, Linking Early Speech and Hearing Problems with Learning and Literacy, produced by American Speech Language Hearing Association in conjunction with August, Lang & Husak. Targeted towards parents, teachers, school administrators, and policy-makers, the PSA was developed to raise consumer awareness of the roles and responsibilities of school based speech language pathologists and audiologists and the role they play in literacy and learning.

Rodale Inc, New York, NY, received the top honor for www.prevention.com. Targeted towards women between (ages 35-65 years), the website was designed to motivate and educate people so that they might enjoy healthier, happier lives.

Winners of the Award of Excellence for television PSAs included:

• American Dietetic Association – "Patti LaBelle, Living with Diabetes"
• American Speech-Language-Hearing Association – "Linking Early Speech and Hearing Problems with Learning and Literacy."
  

Winners of the Award of Excellence for radio PSAs included:

• Society for Women’s Health Research – "Her Lungs, Her Cancer"
  

Winners of the Award of Excellence for health-related WWW sites included:

• American Institute for Cancer Research – www.aicr.org
• Johnson, Bassin & Shaw, Inc – www.alzheimers.org
• Support for People with Oral and Head and Neck Cancer, Inc. (SPOHNC) – www.spohnc.org
• United Ostomy Association – www.uoa.org
  

A panel of judges, representing the health care, television and multimedia fields, evaluated entries. "Many of this year’s entries were impressive," said Dr. Peter Goldschmidt. "Judges were impressed with the quality of production and content. We hope that the awards will encourage excellence in communicating health information to the public, and that consumers will find them a useful guide." We urge World Wide Web sites to enter the competition each year to show the public that they continue to meet standards of excellence." Consumers can now find Aesculapius Award winners, and a list of judges, on the Institute’s web site — http://www.hii.org.

The annual award is named for the ancient Greek God of healing, Aesculapius. This year marks the twelfth year of the annual awards competition. This award was established by the Health Improvement Institute, a non-profit, tax-exempt organization based in Bethesda, Maryland, to promote excellence in informing consumer lifestyle choices and health care decisions.

The Institute is accepting entries for the 2004 Aesculapius Awards. For more information or to obtain entry form, please write to:

Health Improvement Institute 5800 Madaket Road, Suite 200 Bethesda, MD 20816-3201

Telephone: 301-320-0971 Fax: 301-320-0978 Email: hii@has.com