2019

NYX Awards - 2019 Quest Winner Winner: Iron Light

The Pardon: Jason Spyres

Entrant Company

Iron Light

Category

Non-Broadcast / Political

Client's Name

Illinois Policy Institute

Country / Region

United States

Experience Level

Agency

The Pardon: Jason Spyres
Objective
Jason Spyres got arrested for selling cannabis in Illinois. He understood that he broke the law, but he never imagined he'd serve a 30-year sentence. The sentence was severe, and once he finally served his time he met a new challenge that came with the sentence: $68,000 in fines and ruined financial credit due to those unpaid fines.
Our goal of telling Jason's story was to raise awareness about the extreme and outweighed challenges prisoners face for relatively small infractions. We wanted to gauge and gain support from Illinoisians for changing the laws that put prisoners in these unthinkable and sometimes insurmountable situations.
Strategy
By raising awareness and public interest in this issue, it puts pressure on lawmakers. We call this the "political vise" and it relies entirely on public support for the issue.
Results
This video was seen by more than 200,000 people who overwhelmingly supported Jason's petition for a pardon. While Jason is still waiting for a pardon, he gained several earned media appearances and speaking engagements from his exposure in this video and Illinois included new expungement provisions in its cannabis legalization bill signed into law this year.
He technically isn't more eligible than before if I remember correctly. Would leave it open-ended: "Because of advocacy like Jason's, 700,000 arrest and conviction records belonging to approximately 315,000 Illinoisans will be eligible for expungements and pardons under the new law."

Credits

Video Production Specialist
Remo Wakeford
Production Specialist
Joe Kaiser
2019
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Entrant Company

SmartBug Media

Category

Marketing / Promotion Materials / Book

Country / Region

United States

2019
Other
NYX Awards 2019 Winner - Digital Marketing Agency, Hilborn Digital
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Hilborn Digital

Entrant Company

Hilborn Digital

Category

Other / Other

Country / Region

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Non-Broadcast
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Power Home Remodeling

Entrant Company

Power Home Remodeling

Category

Non-Broadcast / Company Overview

Country / Region

United States

2019
Employee Publication
NYX Awards 2019 Winner - AECOM Global Well-Being Week, Blue
quest
winner

Entrant Company

Blue

Category

Employee Publication / Internal Communication

Country / Region

United States