THE HEAR ME PROJECT ANNOUNCES TWO HONORABLE MENTION WINNERS FOR ITS NATIONAL HIV/AIS VIDEO CONTEST

(NEW YORK, NY) – AUGUST 12, 2008 – The judges of the 2007 HEAR ME Project HIV/AIDS Video Contest have chosen to recognize two entrants with Honorable Mention. Congratulations go to Marlena Rodriguez for her video "Reality Coming Home" and to Britney Jones for "Speak." We applaud and thank them both for the great work they did on their video submissions.

The HEAR ME contest was launched in 2004 after a spike in HIV rates among youth was reported. The HEAR ME contest motivates young people to think about their personal vulnerability to HIV/AIDS. Since 2004, the number of entries has surpassed 10,000. A survey of this years contest participants demonstrated that 89%

Excerpts from several stories from this years contest are posted in the "STORIES" section of the website. HEAR ME is currently developing a book of stories which will be distributed nationally to schools, government agencies, community groups, and youth service organizations.