The Huntington’s Disease Alliance, My Family Matters campaign has won Best Campaign at the Gene People Awards. 

"The My Family Matters campaign was developed with the aim of inspiring and supporting the Huntington’s community, celebrating the resilience of those affected by Huntington’s disease and recognising every family’s unique experience."

 

This campaign was launched for Huntington's disease awareness month in May 2021 by The Huntington's Disease Alliance, working in partnership with M&F Health.

 

The Huntington's Disease Alliance is made up of four independent charities, Huntington's Disease Association (England and Wales), Huntington's Disease Association Northern Ireland, Huntington's Disease Association of Ireland and Scottish Huntington's Association. 

 

In the lead-up to the campaign we put out a survey to the community to get some valuable data about life living with or affected by Huntington's disease. These stats were released through the campaign and are still used in current campaigns.

 

The main element of the campaign was the My Family Matters micro-site. This was developed to house powerful films to highlight the realities of Huntington’s with a warm, uplifting quality to directly tackle stigma, show the resilience of families affected, blogs and the #LivingHistory project - a virtual shared space of contributions from the Huntington’s community.

 

The campaign was shared through digital and print media and gained huge traction across social media and YouTube due to the powerful family videos and community stories.

 

We were fortunate enough to recruit two celebrity ambassadors, George Rainsford, an actor from Casualty whose character has a Huntington’s storyline, and Sarah Winckless MBE, an Olympic rower who is from a Huntington's family. Both of them became charity patrons after the campaign.

 

"We are truly honoured to accept this award for the Family Matters campaign. As a charity we feel the campaign encapuslated the strength and resilience of the families within the Huntington's community, giving them a platform to share their stories not only with one another but with those who had never heard of the disease."

 

Our Chief Executive, Cath Stanley was able to accept the award virtually on behalf of the charity.

Huntington's disease

 

About the awards

Gene People Awards is a new awards ceremony focused entirely on genetic conditions. It commemorates outstanding individuals and groups who have achieved incredible things in genetic conditions, whether across the genetic community or for a specific condition. The awards focus on achievements from 2020 and 2021, including campaigns that took place during the pandemic. It is an opportunity to celebrate those in the genetic condition community who accomplished amazing things despite the major challenges at the time.

The awards for this year's event was:

 

About Gene People

Gene People - formally known as Genetic Disorders UK is an umbrella organisation that represents everyone affected by a genetic condition. Their mission is to become the leading source of information and support for those affected by a condition, patient groups and charities.