A documentary co-produced by Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health's Center for Communication Programs (CCP) won an Emmy Award on June 12, 2004, at a gala event in Washington, D.C.
The 29-minute documentary "HIV Positive Voices" received the award for the Best Documentary aired in 2003 by a local television station in the National Capital/Chesapeake Bay Region, including Virginia, Maryland and D.C. The Emmys are the highest honor bestowed by the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.
CCP and Stuart Television Productions of Concord, MA, co-produced this documentary, which will also be recognized at the International AIDS Conference in Bangkok this July and featured in an exhibit by the Federal Drug Enforcement Agency in Times Square, NYC, this October. James Williams, associate director of CCP, and Charles Stuart of Stuart Productions received the award.
"HIV Positive Voices" allows four Baltimore residents living with HIV to tell their stories, including how they got infected and how HIV/AIDS impacts their lives. One segment focuses on Kimberly Smolen, who details a path of self-destruction that stemmed from her discovery that she was HIV-positive from a brief relationship in college. Another segment portrays Rickeena Free, a teenager who was infected perinatally.
Baltimore is home to one of the highest AIDS rates in the nation, ranking third in reported AIDS cases per 100,000 population. It is estimated that someone becomes infected with HIV every eight hours in Baltimore.
Public Affairs media contacts for the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health: Tim Parsons or Kenna Lowe at 410-955-6878 or paffairs@jhsph.edu. Public Affairs media contact for the Center for Communication Programs: Kim Martin at 410 659-6140 or KMARTIN@jhuccp.org.
