Alert: Announcing the Challenge Winners

Dear Partners,

The results of the ACA Anniversary Challenge are in and the winners have been chosen. But before we reveal the victors, we wanted to take a moment to recognize all of you who submitted entries to the contest. We received op-eds and letters to the editor from 16 states, for a total of 30 earned media pieces that ran during the weeks surrounding the ACA anniversary and the Supreme Court oral arguments. Terrific work!

Without a doubt, these articles served as important vehicles (in addition to all your great events and social media activities) for getting the message out about how health reform is benefiting real people. We were so impressed by the diversity of messengers, from consumers to union leaders to hospital executives to faith leaders - the range of voices was great to see. 

Drumroll Please...
And now, the moment you've all been waiting for. We chose one state as the overall winner and two states to receive honorable mentions. Our grand prize winner is the Tennessee Health Care Campaign! With an entry of nine op-eds and letters to the editor, Tennessee blew us away with the breadth and depth of their submissions, from the different authors to the geographic reach and the strong messaging. Some of our favorites were Larry Drain's letter about how freedom from insurance isn't really free and an op-ed from Richard Henighan, a primary care provider who writes about caring for patients who are uninsured or underinsured. Congratulations to our partners at THCC!  

We also chose two states to receive honorable mentions, so three cheers for Colorado Consumer Health Initiative and New Jersey Citizen Action! CCHI placed four consumer letters to the editor and made the smart decision to pair those with an op-ed that focused on the policy angle. This combination proved to be a good strategy, and we were impressed by this approach and the diversity of the consumer voices in the LTEs. In New Jersey, NJCA tackled new mediums, including a post on Blue Jersey, a popular political blog in the state. NJCA also placed a lengthy letter to the editor from an AARP leader. Finally, Jeff Brown of NJCA provides a textbook example of how to stay on message on television with his appearance on a local television talk show. Congratulations CCHI and NJCA!

The Prizes
The grand prize for Tennessee is an Anniversary party package from Community Catalyst full of various goodies with a New England theme. So Tennessee Health Care Campaign, keep an eye on your mailbox! For our honorable mention winners Colorado and New Jersey, we're sending a special visitor to your office who is sure to command attention.

Looking Ahead
Now that the ACA Anniversary Challenge is over, we will be looking ahead to other public education activities, so stay tuned! And keep your eye on the Community Catalyst blog, Health Policy Hub, where we'll be highlighting all the organizations that submitted contest entries in our next Shout-Out. Be sure to check out the debut post in this series here.

Thank you for your continued advocacy,

Community Catalyst Implementation Team