Brick Awards

[http://people.howstuffworks.com/do-something-brick-awards5.htm] , The BR!CK Awards is the only televised award show about changing the world- CNN dubbed it "the Oscars of youth service awards". cite web | url = http://www.dosomething.org/files/Images/News/Dallasnews_Brickpress_3_5_doc.pdf | title= The BRICK Awards to Air Nationwide on The CW Network April 12th | work = Dallas News | accessdate = March 5 | accessyear = 2007] It debuted on The CW on April 12, 2007 and was produced by long-time MTV asset Alex Coletti. Since 1996, The BR!CK Awards have honored the nation’s finest young world-changers. Winners represent the best in their field or issue and are rewarded with a huge community grant and a special televised award ceremony.

The goal of the BR!CK Awards is to shine the spotlight on these amazing leaders and give them the recognition and applause normally given to athletes, actors, and certain “personalities” or socialites who will remain unnamed…You could say that The BR!CK Awards ARE THE ANTI-AWARD SHOW. Instead of asking “who are you wearing?” the show asks “what are you doing?” Celebrities are included as presenters, not honorees. The BR!CK Awards elevate young world-changers to the status of mainstream celebrity by creating a new award show format in which the typical celebrities (musicians, actors, models and athletes) pay homage to the real stars of the night.

The BR!CK Awards accept applications from citizens and permanent residents of Canada and the United States. The deadline to submit applications for the 2008 awards is December 31, 2007. [http://www.dosomething.org/brickawards.html All BR!CK Award winners] receive a $10,000 community grant. Four of the 12 winners are selected by the public through an online voting campaign powered by Yahoo! [http://www.brickawards.com/yahoo] .

2007 Award Show

LeAnn Rimes and Damien Fahey hosted the show. Each of the 12 winners were given an award and the 4 Golden BR!CK Award winners were announced at the end.

Dashboard Confessional performed as a featured musical guest.cite web | url = http://www.myspace.com/brickawards | title=Dashboard Confessional Confirmed as Musical Guest | work = BRICK Awards MySpace | accessdate = March 9 | accessyear = 2007] Mandy Moore performed the song "Extraordinary" off her new album dropping June 19th. It is the first televised performance of material from this new album.

The two celeb BR!CK Award winners were Petra Nemcova and Lance Armstrong. Nemcova was honored for creating the Happy Hearts Fund to help children affected by natural disasters. Armstrong was given an award for raising awareness of cancer.

2007 BR!CK Award winners

*Ashley-Rhodes Courter, 21, FL, North American Council on Adoptable Children: National advocate; raises awareness about poor conditions in foster care; inspires others to adopt hard-to-place kids; helped Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption generate $1M.

*Jacob Komar, 14, CT, Computers for Communities: Obtains discarded computers, teaches prison inmates how to refurbish them and distributes them to local needy. Has distributed more than 1,000 computers and plans to expand his services.

*William Hwang, 22, MD, Innoworks Academy: Recruits college students to mentor middle-school aged kids. Teaches the kids how to use science, technology, math, and engineering to create rockets, engage in crime scene investigation, and apply those subjects to their every day lives. Over 300 volunteers at 7 colleges nationwide.

*Kelly Voigt, 14, IL, Prevent the Bite: Survivor of vicious dog attack. Now a safety advocate who has reached thousands of kids.

*Kimmie Weeks, 25, Liberia, YAI (Youth Action International): Youth Action International: Survivor of the Liberia civil war who (if he survived) vowed to help children in war torn countries. Thousands of children in post war African countries have benefited from YAI's centers, micro-credit loans, scholarships, peace schools, playgrounds and agriculture programs.

*Cheryl Perera, 21, Canada, OneChild: Put herself on the line by posing as decoy to catch pedophile in Sri Lanka; international speaker on the issue of child sex trafficking. Has spread the word to hundreds of thousands of people.

*Ruth DeGolia, 24, CT, Mercado Global: Links Latin America's most rural and economically disadvantaged women's cooperatives to the US market, providing fair wage employment for 176 artisans in Guatemala. 100% of profits fund local development projects selected by local women.

*Jennifer Staple, 25, CT, Unite For Sight: Bringing vision and curbing preventable eye disease worldwide: 90 chapters and 13 eye clinics in North America, Africa, Asia, Latin America and Europe. Services to 400,000 people worldwide and sponsored 6,000 sight-restoring surgeries.

*Jennifer Zwilling, 16, NY, Tourette Syndrome Association Youth Ambassador Program: Diagnosed with Tourette syndrome. Is advocate for understanding and acceptance, speaking before thousands.

*David Fajgenbaum, 21, D.C., National Students of AMF (Ailing Mothers & Fathers): Mom died from brain cancer and he started a network of students to support each other through times of bereavement. 23 chapters nationwide and growing.

*Divine Bradley, 24, NY, Team Revolution: Converted his home into a community center, giving kids in tough neighborhoods an alternative. Provides self-development programs, career and financial literacy training and community service projects as alternatives to crime, violence etc.

*Hannah Taylor, 11, Canada, The Ladybug Foundation, Inc.: Speaks out all over Canada about homeless people and how to help them. Has raised over 1 million dollars for Canadian hunger and homelessness issues.

Past winners

*Rachel Lambin, 16, NV, HOPE (Helping Obese People through Education): Began tackling obesity when she lost 70 lbs to be healthier. Created HOPE to help other kids with obesity. HOPE sets up exercise sessions, meetings with nutritionists and healthy cooking classes that have helped over 2,000 kids.

*Jordan Schwartz, 12, GA, The Children’s Bilingual Theater: Noticed that kids learning Spanish at school didn't have a place to practice it. Started a group that puts on plays for schools and communities encouraging others to learn different languages.

*Ashley Gunn, 18, MS, SAIF (Students Aiding Indigent Families): Noticed that kids learning Spanish at school didn't have a place to practice it. Started a group that puts on plays for schools and communities encouraging others to learn different languages.

*Jena Sims, 17, GA, Prince and Princess of Hope Pageant: Both grandfathers died from cancer, she decided to help others battling this disease. Enlisted help from other pageant participants to hold annual pageants for kids fighting cancer and other terminal illnesses. Every contestant receives an award.

*Robert Bergquist, 14, MA, Cell Phones for Soldiers: Started non profit organization that collects used cell phones and recycles them for money. This money is used to purchase pre-paid calling cards for soldiers in Iraq so they can keep their loved ones in touch. Over 4,000 cell phone drop off sites all over the US.

*Michael Page, 18, NJ, Talking Pages, Inc.: Aunt developed macular degeneration and could no longer read. Michael formed an online system that lends audio books to the visually impaired. Has a current catalogue of over 1,000 books.
*Francesca Tenconi, 21, NC, Children’s Skin Disease Foundation (CSDF): At 11, developed a skin condition that destroyed 85% of her skin and almost took her life. Decided to start a support group for kids who are suffering from skin conditions. Established Camp Wonder where children with serious skin diseases can just have fun.

*Ben Falik, 24, MI, Summer in the City: Noticed how dilapidated Detroit's inner city was. Wants to revitalize the city. Founded a non profit that gives youth the opportunity to help rebuild their city. Sets up carpool sites for youth. Over 750 volunteers have helped Ben rebuild Detroit.

*Ravneet Kaur, 22, NY, The South Asian Community Health Project (SACH): Aunt died of cervical cancer 33 days after she was diagnosed. Set up a mobile clinic for people of all backgrounds providing free education, heart disease and cancer screenings and on-site physician care. Has diagnosed 515 people before it was too late.

References

External links

* [http://www.brickawards.com/ Official website]
* [http://www.myspace.com/brickawards Official MySpace website]
* [http://www.nacac.org North American Council on Adoptable Children]
* [http://www.innoworks.org United Innoworks Academy]
* [http://www.preventthebite.org Prevent The Bite]
* [http://www.youthactioninternational.org Youth Action International]
* [http://www.one-child.ca OneChild Network]
* [http://www.mercadoglobal.org Mercado Global]
* [http://www.uniteforsight.org Unite For Sight]
* [http://www.tsa-usa.org/People/kids/YouthAm.htm Tourette Syndrome Youth Ambassador Program]
* [http://www.studentsofamf.org National Students of Ailing Mothers and Fathers Network]
* [http://www.teamrevolution.org Team Revolution]
* [http://www.computers4communities.org Computers For Communities]
* [http://www.ladybugfoundation.ca The Lady Bug Foundation]