Velir Wins 2022 Gold Anthem Award for Accountable Now Work

Velir is excited to share that we won a Gold Anthem Award in the Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion - Special Projects category of the Inaugural Anthem Awards. The award honors our collaboration with the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights on their Accountable Now website, an effort that has garnered two other awards.

This Gold Anthem Award is even more meaningful because it makes Velir part of the inaugural class of Anthem winners. We’re honored to be an inaugural winner and proud of the talent, insights, leadership, and hard work that went into the Accountable Now site.

Anthem winners are selected by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences. Members include Daniel Dae Kim (actor, producer, and activist); Ashley Judd (author, actor, and social justice humanitarian); Mitchell Baker (CEO and Chairwoman, Mozilla); Lisa Sherman (President and CEO, Ad Council), Sarah Kate Ellis (President and CEO, GLAAD); Renata Erlikhman (Chief Investment Officer, OW Management); Shayla Tait (Director of Philanthropy, The Oprah Winfrey Charitable Foundation); Russlynn Ali (CEO and Co-Founder, XQ Institute); Marc Ecko (Chief Commercial Officer and board member, XQ Institute); Heidi Arthur (Chief Campaign Development Officer, Ad Council); and Alexis M. Herman (Chair and Chief Executive Officer, New Ventures, and former U.S. Secretary of Labor).

For our award-winning project, we partnered with The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights on their Accountable Now campaign. Through the project, we developed an interactive website with the largest public police use of force database in the U.S. By telling compelling stories with data, Accountable Now makes it easy to explore and collect police use of force data, and to learn how you can use it to advocate for change in the U.S.

The project had a tight timeline, so we selected Contentful as the experience platform for Accountable Now. We chose it because as a SaaS-based CMS, it let us set up the site’s infrastructure quickly. Also, since content authors at the Leadership Conference had limited experience with web content management, we knew Contentful's intuitive system would be easy for them to learn. Plus, Contentful could handle the complex content models required for the site. And as a headless CMS, it took care of the back-end, allowing us to focus on building a front-end with custom mapping and dynamic charting capabilities.

Our Gold Anthem Award marks the third award our work on Accountable Now has received. The site also won two 2021 Communicator Awards: Excellence in Causes & Awareness Websites and Distinction in Non-profit Websites.

“It is our distinct honor to recognize the work that brands, organizations, and individuals are all making to create an impact in their community,” said Jessica Lauretti, Managing Director, The Anthem Awards. “We launched this platform to show the world that all corners of our culture, from sports and entertainment to business leaders and celebrities, are all standing up to say, it is time for systemic change and that social good is what we value as a society.”

Winners for the inaugural Anthem Awards will be celebrated at the first annual Anthem Voices conference followed by a star-studded virtual Awards Show on Monday, February 28, 2022.  Fans will be able to hear from social impact leaders during the day and then watch the show, featuring special moments, and hallmark speeches from all you and your fellow winners at www.anthemawards.com.

The Anthem Awards was launched in response to the prevalence social good has taken within the national conversation and cultural zeitgeist in recent years. The inaugural competition received nearly 2,500 entries from 36 countries worldwide. By amplifying the voices that spark global change, the Anthem Awards are defining a new benchmark for impactful work that inspires others to take action in their communities. A portion of program revenue will fund a new grant program supporting emerging individuals and organizations working to advance the causes recognized in the inaugural Anthem Awards.

About The Anthem Awards

The Anthem Awards, the Webby Awards newest initiative, was developed to recognize the breadth of social good work (online and offline) around the globe by honoring the organizations, brands, and people creating long-lasting impact; including, Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion; Education, Art, & Culture; Health; Human & Civil Rights; Humanitarian Action & Services; Responsible Technology; and Sustainability, Environment, & Climate. By amplifying the voices that spark global change, the Anthem Awards are defining a new benchmark for impactful work that inspires others to take action in their communities. Founded in partnership with the Ad Council, Born This Way Foundation, Feeding America, GLAAD, Mozilla, NAACP, NRDC, WWF, and XQ.

About The Webby Awards

Hailed as the “Internet’s highest honor” by The New York Times, The Webby Awards is the leading international awards organization honoring excellence on the Internet, including Websites; Video; Advertising, Media & PR; Apps, Mobile, and Voice; Social; Podcasts; and Games. Established in 1996, The Webby Awards received more than 13,500 entries from all 50 states and 70 countries worldwide this year. The Webby Awards are presented by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences (IADAS). Sponsors and Partners of The Webby Awards include Verizon, WP Engine, YouGov, Brandlive, Canva, NAACP, KPMG, Fast Company, Wall Street Journal, MediaPost, Podcast Movement, and AIGA.

About Velir

Velir is an established digital experience agency with a top-tier portfolio of clients, ranging from the world's largest nonprofits to Fortune 500 brands. We pride ourselves on our people-first culture and a low-ego workplace that embraces experimentation, collaboration, and continuous improvement.

Contact us to discuss how we can help you with your next digital marketing project.