SMAD majors Kristen Hotz, Jasmine Jones, Danielle McLean and Liz Ramirez won a major national competition by creating a campaign to combat Human Trafficking. The national mtvU contest was open to college students across the country.

The four created and designed the concept for an interactive video series called "The Backstory" that uses social media to tell the stories of human trafficking victims.

The idea came out of a SMAD 231, New Media Writing, class taught by professor Paige Normand. The students received $10,000 for their efforts, along with recognition on the mtvU website.

You can view the mtvU execution of their campaign proposal at: http://thebackstory.mtv.com and at http://www.againstourwill.org.

The award has garnered local and national media attention:

The Breeze: http://bit.ly/WRmmTu.
Washington Post: http://wapo.st/11ECuqp
The Broadcast Zine: http://bit.ly/13toXat