Judges were announced yesterday for the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health’s first-ever contest to design an official Los Angeles-branded condom wrapper as “L.A.’s Next Sex Symbol.”
The contest judges join the County’s Division of HIV and STD Programs’ Community Advisory Board and include internet gossip columnist Perez Hilton; Oriol Gutierrez, Deputy Editor, POZ Magazine; David Stern, Publisher of Frontiers IN LA Magazine; Pepe Torres, Publisher of Adelante Magazine; Scott McPherson, Creative Director of The Advocate Magazine, HIV Plus Magazine & co-founder of The Stigma Project; and relationship expert and columnist Julia Allison; Veteran Community Advisory Board members include Terry L. Smith of AIDS Project Los Angeles; Andrew Emmett of the LA Gay & Lesbian Center; Veronica Lewis of Group Homeless Outreach Program Integrated Care System; and community members Grissel Granados, Michelle Enfield and Mauricio Franco.
The top 50 condom wrapper designs will be chosen by our contest judges and Community Advisory Board. From the top 50, the public will be able to vote for the grand prize winner, runners-up and finalists. The winners will receive donated prizes and will be announced on June 27. The top 10 wrapper designs will appear on one million and ONE® condoms set for free distribution.
Los Angeles County residents, over 18 years old, are encouraged to submit a photo or artwork by June 17, 2012 at www.LAsexsymbol.com. The full list of rules & guidelines are available on the website.
To encourage submissions & condom use, the “L.A.’s Next Sex Symbol” street team will be out distributing free condoms at the LA Pride/Christopher Street West parade and festival on June 10. The team will also be at Art Walk events throughout the County in the month of June. For updates, follow the campaign on Facebook at www.facebook.com/LACondom.
An estimated 2,000 new HIV infections occur annually in L.A. County. Last year, the Department reported more than 47,500 new cases of chlamydia, more than 9,500 new cases of gonorrhea, and nearly 1,800 new cases of syphilis.