Camp Okutta, War Child Canada's most recent advertising campaign, has won an award at AdweekMedia's prestigious 2007 BUZZ Awards in California. Toronto based john st, War Child Canada's pro-bono advertising agency, was the only non-American winner on the night. They triumphed in the Best Guerilla Marketing Campaign category at the awards, which were part of The Next Big Idea Conference, held at the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills on Tuesday, 31st October.

"This is fantastic news and thoroughly deserved," said War Child Canada President, Eric Hoskins. "john st. does so much for our organization and for no fee, so to see their work being recognized like this is fabulous. I and all the team here pass on our heartfelt congratulations."

The Camp Okutta campaign was designed to draw attention to the issue of child soldiers, by bringing the problem home to North America. Camp Okutta was a fictitious summer camp for ‘kids aged 8-12’. Instead of the usual camp activities, children were made to fire AK47s, throw grenades and walk through minefields – activities more commonly associated with the experiences of child soldiers. Although there was a TV spot, the campaign really caught fire as a result of non-traditional advertising methods such as online video sites, blogs and guerilla postering and leafleting.

The BUZZ Awards celebrate the best in advertising and marketing and draw hundreds of entries from the top agencies working on the biggest brands, To win one of the main prizes is an amazing achievement.

War Child Camp would like to congratulate and thank all of the following:

Advertising Agency: John St., Toronto, Canada

Creative Directors: Stephen Jurisic, Angus Tucker

Art Director: Stuart Campbell, Rob Trickey

Copywriters: Arthur Shah, Mia Thomsett

Account Manager: Sandra Moretti

Agency Producer: Michelle Orlando

Production House: Soft Citizen

Executive Producers: Eva Preger, Link York

Director: Henry Lu

Director of Photography: John Choi

Line Producers: Merrie Wasson, Andrea Hubert

Editing: Ross Birchall, Bijou Editorial

Sound: Grayson Matthews

Online: Crush Inc

Designers (brochure and poster): Adam Maclean, Stuart Campbell

Illustrator: Sanjai Bhana

Camp Okutta Microsite: Indusblue Inc

War Child Canada Website: SociMedia

For more information on john st., War Child Canada`s advertising partner, please visit  www.johnst.com

To view the Camp Okutta site, please visit  www.campokutta.com