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The Roseburg News Review---December 18, 2007
Creative Images won two international AVA awards presented by the Association of Marketing and Communication Professionals
Creative Images, owned by the Cow Creek Band of the Umpqua Tribe of Indians, won the highest award—a platinum--and a gold.
More than 1,700 entrants from around the world competed for the AVA awards, which recognize outstanding audio and visual presentations.By Adam Pearson
For its documentary of the Diamond Lake Restoration Project and promotional videos of the Umpqua Valley Winegrowers Association, Creative Images of Roseburg has won two international AVA Awards.
On Monday, the Association of Marketing and Communication Professionals announced Creative Images the winner of a platinum award — its highest honor — for the company's Diamond Lake documentary, and a gold award for the company's winegrowers' association commercials.
The Ava Awards program, now in its first year, recognizes outstanding audio and video presentations produced by film production companies, Web site developers, advertising agencies and other communication departments.
The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife selected Creative Images for the taping of a documentary on the Diamond Lake Restoration Project, which began in 2005, after advertising for bids.
In September 2005, the ODFW treated Diamond Lake with rotenone, a naturally occurring chemical in some South American plants that blocks the oxygenation process in fish's gills, to eradicate millions of tui chub.
Tui chub are a small minnow-like fish, native to the Klamath Basin, that can sometimes grow to several inches in length. Non-native to Diamond Lake, they were probably introduced accidentally as bait, but their proliferation decimated the lake and fishery by grazing the food chain from top to bottom and contributing to toxic algae blooms with their waste.
The Diamond Lake Restoration Project was a multiple-pronged effort between state and federal agencies that included in its budget money for a documentary, said Meghan Collins, outreach specialist with the ODFW.
"The fact that we were able to find a local business to join us in our efforts, was very special," said Dave Loomis, team leader of the Diamond Lake Restoration Project for the ODFW.
Loomis now owns and operates his own fisheries consulting business, LooFish Consulting LLC./p>
"The Diamond Lake story really needs to be shared in many different audiences," Loomis said. "This documentary put all of those actions into accurate words and sparkling creativity."
The documentary will continue to work as an outreach tool, or insurance policy, to prevent the spread of invasive species in Oregon, Loomis said.
The Umpqua Valley Winegrowers Association hired Creative Images to develop two cable-access commercials — "ticklers" — that feature scenic highlights of the North Umpqua River and its surroundings designed to attract visitors from the Portland region, who in turn may stop to visit wineries and their tasting rooms, said Syndi Beavers, president of the association.
Greg Cramer, owner of MarshAnne Landing, said the 30-second commercials begin with footage of Crater Lake before meandering down the North Umpqua River into the valley and ending at wineries and their tasting rooms.
"This is a great place to be, and I think we captured that in the short video," Cramer said.
Surveys this past summer of tasting-room traffic show that visitor numbers increased in 2007 despite higher gas prices, Beavers said.
More than 1,700 entrants from the United States and several other countries entered the Ava Awards, sponsored and judged by the Association of Marketing and Communication Professionals.
Creative Images video producer Carl Metzler said the production company's previous documentaries had never won an award more prestigious than an honorable mention in similar contests.
"Usually with those type of awards, I would expect 'Good job, try again next year,'" Metzler said. "But this was definitely a surprise."