A series of radio spots for the Victorian Government urging people to bin their cigarette butts and based on actual prank calls, has won the overall and campaign categories for round two of the 2008 Siren Awards.
Writers of the campaign, Ben Keenan and Connor Beaver (pictured) from agency Grey Melbourne are also the first winners to take out a clean sweep of a Siren round, with one of the ads in the campaign, 'Lost and Found – male' also winning the single category.
The campaign for Sustainability Victoria was praised for its effective simplicity by previous round winners, and judges Simon Johnson and Ed James from DDB Sydney.
 “The Bin Your Butts radio campaign stood out for us because it communicated a simple message in a real, honest way. In the single category, again it was the simple idea that stood out ahead of several other equally well-executed spots."
Three ads were highly commended in the campaign category: 'Carlton Draught Advertising Computer' for Fosters, written by Ant Keogh and Grant Rutherford from Clemenger BBDO, Melbourne; 'Great Beer Inventions' for snackfood, Beerka, written by Brendan Greaney and David Ponce de Leon from Leo Burnett, Melbourne and 'Open Family – Junk Food/Hits/Monsters/Dreams' for Open Family Australia, written by Brendon Guthrie and Tim Holmes from Grey Melbourne.
Two ads were highly commended in the single category: They were both from the 'Great Beer Inventions' campaign -  'Shopping Trolley' and 'Urinal' and written by Brendan Greaney and David Ponce de Leon from Leo Burnett, Melbourne.
Winner of the craft category was 'Black Widow Trackers' for Black Widow, written and produced by Jo Campbell and Gregg Sinclair from Australian Radio Network (ARN).
Judge and previous winner, Dylan Stephens from Risk Sound said: “I liked the Black Widow commercial due to its realism. The sounds are real and as the listener you can visualise the situation quite easily."
A commercial called 'Shower' for Rent Rescue was highly commended in the craft category. Sound engineer was Marty Braine from Brainestorm Productions and creative director was Ron Samuel.
The national Siren Awards are run by Commercial Radio Australia and are designed to recognise the best radio advertising in the country.  The awards promote the importance of creativity as a way to make radio advertising more effective. Round three of the Siren Awards for 2008 is now open and closes on October 19.  For a booking form and more information visit the Siren Awards dedicated website.