Legacy is pleased to announce the Legacy Tobacco Industry Documents Awards program, including the Sybil G. Jacobs Award for Outstanding Use of Tobacco Industry Documents and the Christine O. Gregoire Youth/Young Adult Award for Outstanding Use of Tobacco Industry Documents (for individuals 24 years of age or younger). These two awards were created to honor individuals who improve the health of the public through innovative use of tobacco industry documents.

These awards recognize youth and adults who have made a significant and well-recognized contribution to the health of the public in the recent past through use of tobacco documents. The award honors innovation in the use and application of tobacco industry documents to further the goals of tobacco prevention and control in order to help build a world where young people reject tobacco and anyone can quit. Those nominated should be individuals who have made a notable impact through innovative use of tobacco industry documents as applied to research, policy, or advocacy.

These awards were created on the occasion of Washington Attorney General Christine O. Gregoire’s completion of service as Chair of the American Legacy Foundation Board of Directors in December 2002. They honor Attorney General Gregoire’s commitment to tobacco control and youth activism and the memory of her mother, Sybil G. Jacobs, who died of tobacco-related causes. In November 1998, as the lead negotiator for the states, General Gregoire announced the settlement of lawsuits brought by more than 46 states against the tobacco industry to recover billions of dollars in costs associated with treating smoking-related illnesses. The Master Settlement Agreement (MSA), the largest civil litigation settlement in U.S. history, created the American Legacy Foundation and put new restrictions on cigarette advertising and youth marketing.

The Sybil G. Jacobs Award for Outstanding Use of Tobacco Industry Documents and the Christine O. Gregoire Youth/Young Adult Award for Outstanding Use of Tobacco Industry Documents will be presented at the National Conference on Tobacco or Health to be held August 15-17, 2012 in Kansas City, Missouri.

The NEW deadline for nominations is Friday, April 13, 2012.