Breast Cancer Awareness Month is just around the corner, and this year my Dr. Susan Love Research Foundation is marking this month by giving YOU the chance to help US!

Here’s the back story:

Earlier this year the Foundation embarked upon an exciting adventure: It developed a contest that gave film students from the USC School of Cinematic Arts and New York University’s Maurice Kanbar Institute of Film and Television the opportunity to propose their ideas for a Public Service Announcement (PSA) video that would encourage one million women of all ages and ethnicities from across the nation to sign up and be part of the Army of Women movement.

The foundation received more than 25 submissions to the contest, and I was incredibly impressed by the passion the students showed for our work and our mission to move breast cancer beyond a cure. It was far from easy to choose the best projects. But after much debate and discussion, four finalists were selected who each received a $5,000 budget to create a 0.30 to 0.60 second PSA video:

Brent McHenry & Nick Wenger, University of Southern California, for “One Million Strong”
Courtney Thompson, University of Southern California, for “Walk in the Park”
Marc Parees & Ryan Silbert, New York University for “Million in the Mirror”
Felix Thompson, New York University, for “One Voice”
 
Now, here is where it gets even more exciting. Glamour magazine has joined forces to promote the Army of Women and the PSA contest by hosting the competition! When I met with the editors of Glamour earlier this year, they told me how excited they were to be able to support this effort. (Go, Glamour!)

This is where YOU come in! Starting today, you can go to to http://www.glamour.com and view the first in a series of PSAs. One PSA will be uploaded each day and then you can cast your vote for your favorite starting on September 25th! In addition, Lifetime Networks will be airing the four finalists’ PSAs during the month of October.

It is now up to you to vote! And be sure to get your friends and family members to watch the videos and vote, too! The Grand Prize PSA winner will receive an Apple Final Cut Studio Package and a meeting with a studio executive. They will also get to proudly announce that their video is the centerpiece of the Army of Women’s viral marketing campaign!

One more thing: After you vote, I hope that you’ll visit the Dr. Susan Love Research Foundation and make a donation. It is the support of women like you that will help us achieve our goal of going beyond a cure (and way beyond awareness) to end breast cancer. As you know, I’m in a hurry to get this done! Your donation will show me that I’m not alone, and that you’re in a hurry too!