Over 120,000 votes were cast in the United Nations contest aimed at finding the best ad to promote awareness about the battle to defeat gender-based violence. The winning entry “Treat me like a Woman” was created by Gjoke Gojani.
More than 2,700 entries from 40 European countries – prepared by both professionals and ordinary members of the public – were submitted in the contest, and three winners will be selected. The winning entry, chosen by a seven-member jury of experts, will be revealed at an awards ceremony in November and a youth winner will be selected by Fabrica, the Benetton Group communication research centre and announced in September.
Gjoke Gojani, a 30 year old art student from Kosovo, had received the most votes from the public when the poll was closed midnight, Sunday 31 July. Out of 2,700 participants from 40 European countries, Gojani’s contribution Treat me like a woman got 7,530 votes, securing top spot with just 167 more votes than second placed Together we can fight back.
Every vote cast on the website also counted as an Action on the Say NO – UniTE website. This means that all of those who voted contributed to the global call to make ending violence against women a top priority worldwide. Already over 2 million actions have been registered and that number is soon to raise with another 120,000 as the ad competition votes are included. 
In 2010 UNRIC called on creative Europeans to and create an ad that aimed to raise awareness about the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and mobilize citizens to remind political leaders of the promises they made to end poverty by 2015. The winner of the competition was Icelandic graphic designer Stefán Einarsson. Below he tells us what winning the competition meant to him.
