?Predict The Winner? on Facebook: Cellular South Will Donate To Blair E. Batson Hospital
JACKSON, Miss. ? Mississippi’s only children's hospital, the Blair E. Batson Hospital for Children, will be the big winner as people who participate in the highly popular free social networking site, Facebook, predict who will be named the winners of the Cellular South Howell Trophy and Cellular South Gillom Trophies next week. The trophies are awarded to Mississippi’s most outstanding college basketball players as part of Cellular South’s Outstanding Player Awards.
For every vote cast through the Cellular South Outstanding Player Awards group page on www.facebook.com, Cellular South will donate $1 up to $2,500, to the Blair E. Batson Hospital for Children.
The non-profit teaching hospital treats all children regardless of ability to pay. Therefore, it needs Mississippians’ support to help the children who are treated there. To further show its dedication to helping Mississippians, Cellular South wanted to get the public involved to raise money for Batson Hospital through its new Facebook group.
According to Facebook statistics, more than 175 million people worldwide are Facebook users. Even more staggering is the amount of time spent on the social networking site each day. Facebook documents more than 3 billion minutes are spent on the site each day worldwide.
“Facebook is a great way to reach people with different interests, such as sports fans,” said Orien Watson, Cellular South Sport Marketing manager. “This is a great opportunity for us to get Mississippi Facebook users excited about these awards and, at the same time, help the children who are served by Blair E. Batson Hospital for Children,” he concluded.
Nominees for the 2009 awards were announced Monday, with the awards ceremony taking place next Monday, March 30, 2009, at the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame and Museum in Jackson. Mississippi State's Jarvis Varnado was nominated on the men's side, while Lady Bulldog Alexis Rack is being considered on the women's side. Tickets are still available for the awards ceremony.
In addition to predicting the winner on the Cellular South Outstanding Player Awards group page on Facebook, web users can also read more about the nominees, game statistics, past winners and history of the Cellular South Howell and Cellular South Gillom Trophies.
“Once a Facebook user joins the Cellular South Outstanding Player Awards group, he or she simply clicks to choose the ?Predict The Winner’ application,” explains Watson. “Users will be taken to the page where their predictions may be made.”
While Cellular South wants users to predict the winner, Facebook votes do NOT count as official ballots for the Cellular South Howell or Cellular South Gillom Trophies, and have no bearing on the official judging of the Awards. Media representatives from across Mississippi affiliated with radio, television and print outlets in small, medium and large markets determine the Cellular South Howell and Cellular South Gillom Trophy recipients.
The Cellular South Fans’ Choice Awards Text Messaging Contest is underway now that the nominees have been announced. Fans can cast votes via text messaging for the best Mississippi collegiate men’s and women’s basketball players and the winners’ athletic departments will receive a donation of $2,500. For specific instructions on how to text a vote, visit www.cellularsouth.com. Fans may vote as many times as they like between now and 6:30 p.m. on March 30, the day of the awards presentation. Facebook votes also do NOT count toward the Cellular South Fans’ Choice Awards Text Messaging Contest.
This is the 12th year for the Cellular South Outstanding Player Awards. Cellular South has served as title sponsor for ten of those years. Awards presented each year include: the Cellular South Conerly Trophy in college football, the Cellular South Howell Trophy in men’s college basketball, the Cellular South Gillom Trophy in women’s college basketball, and the Ferriss Trophy in men’s college baseball.
For ticket information: Contact the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame and Museum at 1-800-280-FAME (3263) or via email at generalinfo@msfame.com.