ASCRS National Media Awards
ASCRS established the National Media Awards program in 1995 to acknowledge achievement in promoting a greater public understanding of colon and rectal disease, such as colon cancer, hemorrhoids, diverticulitis, and Crohn's Disease.
Each year, the Society presents awards honoring the best work in three major media categories: Print (newspaper or magazine, Broadcast (television or radio), and Internet (information created for a general audience and presented exclusively on the Internet).
Winners receive a $1,000 cash prize, personally engraved plaque, and an expense-paid trip to the ASCRS Annual Meeting.
2009 National Media Award Winners
Outstanding achievements in reporting on colorectal disease by CBS Evening News, Melbourne, FL-based Florida Today, and Patient Power, LLC, Mercer Island, WA, were selected as winners of the Society’s 2009 National Media Awards competition.
Broadcast:
Jonathan LaPook, M.D.
CBS Evening News
New York, NY
“The Dangers of Flat Polyps”
“Left Side/Right Side Polyps”
CBS Evening News Medical Correspondent Jonathan LaPook, M.D., was honored in the competition’s broadcast category for two reports: “The Dangers of Flat Polyps” and “Left Side/Right Side Polyps.”
Judges praised the reports for drawing attention to “polyps that are harder to detect – such as those that are flat or form on the right side of the colon. CBS took a bold, proactive approach to providing new information that could potentially save lives.”
Print:
Susan Jenks
Florida Today
Melbourne, FL
“Caveat with colonoscopies”
Florida Today reporter Susan Jenks won the print category award for “Caveat with colonoscopies,” which “does a tremendous public service in addressing a recent public study that found colonoscopies miss a number of cancers developing in harder to reach areas of the colon,” judges said.
The report “plainly tells readers that, despite possible limitations, colonoscopy remains an essential screening test for persons over 50 or at high risk” for colorectal cancer.
To view the article, please click here.
Internet:
Patient Power, LLC
Mercer Island, WA
“Colon Cancer Education On-Demand”
Patient Power, LLC won the Internet category for “Colon Cancer Education On-Demand,” a series of podcasts available at www.patientpower.info.
“In wide ranging interviews with patients and their doctors at top medical centers, producers give people important and useful information about screening and treatment for colorectal cancer,” judges said. “The podcasts also give patients hope by letting them hear detailed, straightforward but essentially optimistic, stories.”