Argonauts.ca Staff
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Winnipeg, MB – The Toronto Argonauts Football Club is proud to announce it has earned a pair of league awards at this year’s CFL Rouge Awards ceremony during 2015 CFL Congress in Winnipeg. The Argonauts were recognized for Best Community Initiative in 2014, for their award-winning and long-standing Huddle-Up Bullying Prevention Program, presented by Tim Hortons, as well as Best in Social Media in 2014 for their fun and engaging #BeatTheTicats digital strategy. The Argonauts were one of two teams (Calgary Stampeders) to be multiple award recipients. Commented Argonauts Sr. Vice President, Business Operations, David Bedford, “It is rewarding and humbling to be recognized by our peers from around the CFL. There were a number of excellent community initiatives and social media strategies to choose from this past season, all of which were worthy of winning. Our staff, players and cheerleaders work tirelessly to positively impact the lives of youth around the G.T.A. through our Huddle Up Bullying Prevention Program, and we would especially like to thank Tim Hortons for their continued commitment to improving the lives of our students.” Bedford continued, “This past season, our digital team effectively utilized humour to ignite the rivalry with our age-old on-field foes in Hamilton while supporting our own fans with an engaging and playful strategy. We will continue to find opportunities to #BeatTheCats in 2015, and we hope that this serves notice to the rest of the League.” The Huddle Up Bullying Prevention Program, presented by Tim Hortons, uses the personal stories of Toronto Argonauts football players, staff and cheerleaders to encourage friendship and inclusion, and reduce or eradicate bullying. It is customized for each school to address the specific issues faced by each student body, ranging from physical and verbal intimidation, to cyber-bullying and even targeted female bullying prevention strategies. The program also includes specially designed Parent-Teacher Information Sessions. Over more than a decade, Huddle Up has reached in excess of 500,000 students across the G.T.A. ranging in age from 8-18. In 2009, the Huddle Up program became recognized on the Ministry of Education’s Registry of Bullying Prevention Programs. The Argonauts are the only Canadian sports team to have a program registered. #BeatTheCats was a season-long strategy developed by the Argonauts’ digital team to engage fans and amplify the longtime rivalry between the Argos and Hamilton Tiger-Cats. The strategy carried through the Grey Cup Playoffs and into the Grey Cup game, and resulted in more than 2,600 engagements, 600,000 impressions and the most Retweets, Favourites and Replies from June onward. It also resulted in extensive national and local media coverage. Specific program touch points can be viewed by searching the hashtag (#BeatTheCats) online. |