St. Mary's County Health Department and Full Sail Media Win Silver Davey Award for Gun Safety Campaign

BALTIMORE, Feb. 8, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- St. Mary's County Health Department (SMCHD) located in southern Maryland and Full Sail Media have been awarded a prestigious Silver Award in the General-Public Service & Activism category at the 19th Annual Davey Awards. This recognition is for the video "Don't Play Games With Gun Safety," a PSA about gun safety and gun violence in St. Mary's County and Maryland.

The award-winning PSA can be viewed at youtube.com/watch?v=0Z2e0GMfj_8.

This recognition results from a successful, ongoing collaboration between St. Mary's County Health Department and Full Sail Media, a creative marketing agency based in Baltimore. Their partnership has been instrumental in creating impactful content that resonates with the community. This includes in-person events to hand out gun safety locks, social media messaging, and video PSAs to promote the importance of safe firearm storage and a violence-free community.

"This campaign is vital in raising awareness as well as promoting safe firearm storage," said Michelle Pottinger, the Violence, Injury, and Trauma Unit Director at the St. Mary's County Health Department. "We're working on a gun violence intervention strategy in partnership with law enforcement, community organizations, and other leaders to reduce gun violence in St. Mary's County. Our goal is to connect victims and perpetrators with education and resources to live a violence-free life."

Firearms continue to significantly contribute to injuries and death, including those due to suicide, across the state of Maryland. The 2021 Crime in Maryland report indicated that 81.2% of murders and 26.8% of aggravated assaults reported in Maryland for 2021 involved a firearm.

Nelson Anderson, president and founder of Full Sail Media, spoke on the agency's commitment to supporting programs like these, "Doing mission-based projects is something we value at Full Sail Media. We were encouraged to see that this campaign won an award, and hope that recognition brings even more attention to the high-quality work of St. Mary's County Health Department and their essential initiatives, especially regarding gun locks and safety."

To further the mission of safety in St. Mary's County, please visit gunlocksmc.com to request your free gun safety lock.

SOURCE Full Sail Media; St. Mary's County Health Department