St. Vincent Charity Medical Center received a Silver Aster Award for its bariatric advertising campaign, "My New Life." The Aster Awards, one of the largest national competitions of its kind, is hosted by Marketing Healthcare Today Magazine and Creative Images, Inc. This elite program recognizes outstanding healthcare professionals for excellence in their advertising/marketing efforts for the calendar year 2010.

 The 2011 Aster Awards received approximately 3,000 entries from across the United States as well as Canada and South America.  Participant’s entries competed against similar-sized organizations in their category. 

 Entries must score at least in the top 16% to receive an award.  Judging criteria includes creativity, layout and design, functionality, message effectiveness, production quality and overall appeal. Sillver Award winners score in the top 12% in the country.

"It is a great honor to be recognized among our peers for our work on a campaign as extensive as the My New Life campaign for our Center for Bariatric Surgery," said Wendy A. Hoke, Director of Marketing and Communications at St. Vincent Charity Medical Center. "Certainly we could not have been as successful without the support of our creative partners on this campaign: Twist Creative and Authentic Films, as well as the gracious and wonderful participation of our program surgeons, staff and patients."

  “It was an honor to have the number of Healthcare organizations and agencies that participated in the 2011 Aster Awards Competition. The quality of this year’s entries went well beyond the judges’ expectations,” said Melinda R. Lucas, Aster Awards Program Coordinator.

 All winners are posted on the Aster Awards website (www.AsterAwards.com), as well as published in Marketing Healthcare Today, a national healthcare marketing magazine.