Martine Bouman wins the Everett M. Rogers Award for Achievement in Entertainment-Education

Dr. Martine Bouman, Scientific Director of the Center Media & Health in the Netherlands, is the 2010 recipient of the annual Everett M. Rogers Award for Achievement in Entertainment Education. On September 22, she described her pioneering work at a noon lunch colloquium at the USC Annenberg School. That evening, she was recognized as the sixth recipient of the Rogers award at the Writers Guild of America, West in Los Angeles.

Presented by the Norman Lear Center, the award honors the late Everett M. Rogers, a former associate dean and the Walter H. Annenberg Professor of Communication at the USC Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism. It recognizes exceptional creativity in the practice of Entertainment-Education (EE) and excellence in research on the use of entertainment to deliver messages aimed at improving the quality of life of audiences around the world. Dr. Bouman is the first woman and European to receive the Rogers Award.

Dr. Bouman's career is a rare combination of roles as social scientist and educator, designer of EE campaigns, and public policy advocate. Her work has led to television and Internet storylines on public health topics including sex, drugs, alcohol, and the prevention of cardiovascular diseases. Her teaching and research on the effectiveness of EE has led to its formal integration into policy at the Ministry of Health and Welfare and several NGOs in the Netherlands, as well to courses at six universities and to her organizing the first major global conference on entertainment education outside the U.S.

"Martine Bouman's center is the pre-eminent model for entertainment education in Europe," said Professor Doe Mayer, the Mary Pickford Chair at the USC School of Cinematic Arts and a professor at USC Annenberg. "Her passionate advocacy continues to inspire all of us in the field."

Recipients of the Rogers Award are selected by a jury of prominent scholars in the field of health communication. Peter Clarke, former USC Annenberg dean who now holds a joint faculty appointment at USC Annenberg and the Keck School of Medicine at USC, chaired the selection committee.

The award was presented to Dr. Bouman during the eleventh annual Sentinel for Health Awards ceremony, which recognizes exemplary achievements in television storylines that inform, educate and motivate viewers to make choices for healthier and safer lives.

The Sentinel for Health Awards are hosted by Hollywood, Health & Society (HH&S), a program of the USC Annenberg School's Norman Lear Center. Funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, the Office of National Drug Control Policy, The California Endowment, the Health Resources and Services Administrations Division of Transplantation and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, HH&S provides entertainment industry professionals with accurate and timely information for health storylines, including online materials, consultations and briefings with experts on a wide range of public health topics. For more information about the Sentinel for Health Awards, Hollywood, Health & Society and resources for writers, visit www.usc.edu/hhs.

Award ceremony:



Interview with Martine Bouman about Entertainment-Education: