The NCCRT, the American Cancer Society, Fight Colorectal Cancer, Stand Up To Cancer, the Mayo Clinic, the Entertainment Industry Foundation, Exact Sciences and many other partners were recognized over the weekend with the 2017 SCOPY (Service Award for Colorectal Cancer Outreach, Prevention and Year-Round Excellence) Spirit of Collaboration Award for the awareness event held in New York City’s Hard Rock Café on March 1.

If you recall, our Countdown to 2018 event featured Katie Couric, whose first husband died of colon cancer at age 42, and actor Luke Perry, whose best friend’s wife was diagnosed with the disease, interviewing lots of impressive people involved in the fight against colon cancer, including Richard Wender, MD, NCCRT chair and ACS chief cancer control officer.

SCOPY awards are given each year by the American College of Gastroenterology to honor the most innovative and impactful community education programs aimed to raise awareness of colorectal cancer. Details of all the award winners can be found here.

Emily Bell, associate director of NCCRT, and Danielle Burgess, director of communication for Fight Colorectal Cancer, accepted the award on behalf of the partner organizations at an award ceremony on Sunday in Orlando, Florida.

“The 2017 SCOPY Award Winners deliver yet another class of extraordinary initiatives, meeting the high bar established in past years,” said Jordan J. Karlitz, MD, FACG, chair, ACG Public Relations Committee and associate professor of Clinical Medicine, Section of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Tulane Cancer Center, New Orleans, LA. “Many projects exhibit zeal and a fervent, ongoing commitment to community service, public health, and the national screening goal of 80% of eligible adults by 2018.”

Twenty-one projects were selected by a panel of three judges that included Dr. Karlitz; Patricia L. Raymond, MD, FACG, ACG Public Relations Committee, assistant professor of Clinical Internal Medicine, Eastern Virginia Medical School; and Eugenia Tsai, MD, GI Fellow, Tulane University School of Medicine.

“Year after year, the GI community demonstrates its remarkable dedication to support colorectal cancer (CRC) prevention,” said ACG President Carol A. Burke, MD, FACG. “The passion and dedication of ACG members to communicate the critical message of CRC screening and prevention is evident in every submission,” she added.