ETFO Poverty Awareness DVD Continues in a Winning Mode

TORONTO , Jan. 20 /CNW/ - The awards keep mounting up for 'One in Six - Education and Poverty in Ontario', a video produced by the Elementary Teachers' Federation of Ontario (ETFO) in 2008 and distributed to all Ontario public elementary schools.

The 'One in Six' DVD is designed as a tool to generate discussion and awareness of childhood poverty among Ontario educators. Its title refers to the fact that one out of six Ontario children under 18 - over 478,000 children - live below the poverty line.

The latest accolade for 'One in Six' is the CINE Golden Eagle Award, recognized as a mark of excellence throughout the film and television industry for over 50 years. The award acknowledges high quality production in a variety of content categories for professional, independent, and student filmmakers. As a CINE Golden Eagle Winner, 'One in Six' is automatically nominated for CINE's competitive awards - the Special Jury Award and the Masters Series Award.

The ETFO-produced DVD has also received the Silver Award in the documentary category at the Philadelphia International Film Festival, where it was screened on opening night, and was a 4th place finisher at the SkyFest Film and Script Festival in North Carolina in the short documentary category.

"We appreciate the recognition and exposure given to 'One in Six', said ETFO President Sam Hammond . "It has a very important message that needs to be heard.

"Our federation is honoured to have been part of a project that supports children living in poverty. We hope that through this DVD, elementary teachers have become more aware of and sensitive to the impact of poverty on education and how this affects children's ability to learn."

The Elementary Teachers' Federation of Ontario represents 73,000 elementary public school teachers and education workers across the province and is the largest teacher federation in Canada .

For further information: Sam Hammond, President, ETFO, [phone] (Office); Larry Skory, ETFO Communications, [phone] (Office), [phone] (Cell)