“Poo-free” films win Golden Poo Awards 2012

You will not see any real poo in the two short films that won the 2012 Golden Poo Awards today. A relief for those who find the sight of the real thing offensive, but unlikely a prime concern of the 2.6 billion who have no relief from open defecation.

The “Number One” Golden Poo Award went to Andrew Oxley for Men, Loos and Number Twos.

Paul Rey-burns won the “Number Two” award for his film Pushing4Change.

The winning films will form part of the Global Handwashing Day (October 15th) and World Toilet Day (November 19th) awareness-raising campaigns. The films will be also screened amongst the programme of films at The London Short Film Festival (4-13 January 2013) .

Golden Poo Award Finalist – Bum Bay

Sanitation Updates’ favourite to win the 2012 Golden Poo Award for best short film has to be Bum Bay. Set to the tune of the 1969 Indo-pop hit “Bombay Meri Hai” – transformed to “Bum Bay Meri Hai” – we see a mock tourist promotion film interspersed with explicit scenes of male open defecation.

The film was made by renowned Indian film advertising company Genesis run by Prahlad Kakar.

Golden Poo Award Winners

Uganda’s Minister of State for Water Jennifer Namuyangu Byakatonda is one of the winners of a Golden Poo Award. The minister was the winner in the Sanitation Champion category.

The award ceremony took place on Thursday 15th October in the Prince Charles Cinema in London. The event was organised by PooP Creative and sponsored by the London School for Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) and the UK Department for International Development (DfID) as part of the Global Handwashing Day activities in the UK.

The Golden Poo Award for Hygiene Champion went to Mary Swai and Rebecca Budimu from Tanzania.

Golden Poo Award winners Rebecca Budimu (back left) and Mary Swai (back right) with children in Tanzania. Photo: UNICEF

Mary Swa is Head of the Environmental Sanitation and Hygiene section of the Tanzanian Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, and Rebecca Budimu is WASH Specialist from UNICEF Tanzania’s Young Child Survival and Development Section. The award was collected by the High Commissioner of Tanzania on behalf of the winners.

Ms. Budimu has been working with UNICEF as a Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) specialist for the past 14 years, often as the only WASH staff member in the country. As a child, Rebecca’s family did not have a latrine, but instead used the bush. This experience reinforced her commitment and understanding for adoption of good hygiene and sanitation practices – particularly at the household level.

In her work, Ms. Budimu has focused on raising awareness about the benefits of improved hygiene and sanitation issues as well as championed and supported local artisans on latrine construction.

Ms. Swai has spearheaded the development and revision of hygiene promotion tools in Tanzania. She advocates for increased community engagement and innovative approaches as viable solutions.

Golden Poo Award video

The remaining Gold Poo Awards went to the winners of an animated film competition set up by PooP Creative and The London International Animation Festival. The audience in the Prince Charles Cinema gave their votes to:

• Number ONE film Dancing In The Loo by Delphine Mandin
• Number TWO film A Film About Poo by Emily Howells and Anne Wilkins
• Runner-up film Are You Spreading Poo? by Rob and Tom Sears

The final prize, the SUDS! Hygiene Poster Competition Golden Poo Certificate, was jointly awarded to Chloe Izzard and Amy Murphy.

Below are three prize winning animation films.

Number ONE film Dancing In The Loo by Delphine Mandin

Number TWO film A Film About Poo by Emily Howells and Anne Wilkins

Runner-up film Are You Spreading Poo? by Rob and Tom Sears

Source:  Golden Poo Awards web site ; UNICEF, 16 Oct 2009

The Golden Poo Awards

Held at: The Prince Charles Cinema, 7 Leicester Place WC2H7BY
on Thursday October 15th, 2009, at 6.00pm

Is Poo a suitable subject for Comedy? The Glamorous Golden Poo Awards that are being held in a West End Cinema in London on 15 October will prove that it is! It’s all in a good cause – to highlight the fact that poo kills at least a million children every year and that handwashing and better sanitation are the best way to fight this public menace.

The Golden Poo Awards promise an hilarious, un-missable evening of comedy and short animated films about hygiene and poo, forming part of a world-wide campaign to promote Global Handwashing Day October 15th.

This unique red-carpet event, hosted by Dr Phil Hammond (Have I Got News For You; MD Private Eye) promises an exciting and riotous evening of entertainment. The show will feature six intriguing short animated films about hygiene and the taboo subject of poo! An audience vote will decide the Number One and Number Two films, and the winning artists will be presented with coveted Golden Poo Awards. The selected films have been short-listed from a competition set up by PooP Creative and The London International Animation Festival.

See below two of the short-listed films “Why Wash” by Staffordshire University and Are You Spreading Poo? - Rob and Tom Sears

Two International Golden Poo Awards will also be awarded – Hygiene Champion and Sanitation Champion – to celebrate those who have made outstanding contributions to improving sanitation and good hygiene practice around the world.

Dr Val Curtis, Director of the Hygiene Centre at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine said: “We need to talk about Poo. Poo shouldn’t be taboo because poo kills 5000 children a day. The Golden Poo Awards recognizes those heroes that fight poo daily in their work for hygiene and sanitation around the world”

The Golden Poo Awards is one of a number of UK activities taking place on Global Handwashing Day – a campaign across 5 continents, which aims to mobilise millions of people to wash their hands with soap.

The Golden Poo Awards are sponsored by the London School for Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM), the UK Department for International Development (DfID) and PooP Creative Ltd.

Web site: www.thegoldenpooawards.org/