Six Canadian agencies landed spots on this year’s Health & Wellness Lions shortlist for work that drove awareness, raised funds and advanced research for important causes and subjects.

Zulu Alpha Kilo was nominated for “The Micropedia of Microagressions,” created with a group of organizations including The Black Business and Professional Association, The Canadian Congress on Diversity and Workplace Equity, Pride at Work and Toronto Metropolitan University’s Diversity Institute. The campaign – also nominated for a Glass Lion last week – was built around an online database of hundreds of microaggressions people face in their daily lives, aiming to educate people on words and actions they may not even realize are discriminatory and reinforce systemic racism.

The agency was also shortlisted in the Health & Wellness Tech sub-category for Pfaff Harley-Davidson’s “Tough Turban,” an initiative that allowed Sikh Harley owners to stay safe while still recognizing their faith.

Rethink also added to its nominations for YWCA Metro Vancouver’s “Wall For Women” – which hid a clandestine QR code in a mural to spread the word about resources for abuse victims – and Fondation Émergence’s “Colours of Pride” – which used close-up images of bruises and other signs of struggle in the fight for 2SLGBTQ+ rights to create a Pride flag – in the Outdoor sub-category.

Bensimon Byrne earned two shortlist mentions for “Day After Day,” a campaign for White Ribbon that dove into the rise of domestic violence during the COVID-19 pandemic. The campaign was nominated in the Film sub-category, as well as in Film Craft for the work of director Hubert Davis.

NFA Health picked up a pair of nominations for “Unsilence The Conversation,” a campaign for Sunnybrook Hospital’s Pregnancy and Infant Loss Network to help normalize the conversation about pregnancy loss, a topic that is often hard to bring up despite the importance of talking about it for support.

Also earning a nomination was FCB Canada for the Canadian Down Syndrome Society’s “Mindsets Paper.” The campaign was aimed at getting participants to sign up for a fitness tracking app and study that aimed to investigate the under-explored connection between exercise and the abilities of those with Down syndrome. The campaign was also among those nominated for an Innovation Lion last week.

Rounding out the Canadian nominations was McCann Canada for “Grown Up Problems,” a campaign for Kids Help Phone. The campaign enlisted actors Tatiana Maslany, Malin Åkerman and Anne Dorval to perform monologues based on actual calls Kids Help Phone has received, an attempt to both shine a light on the kinds of scenarios the non-profit helps with, as well as ensure they were taken more seriously by having them come from adults.

There was no Canadian work among the 31 shortlist nominations in the Pharma Lions. Lion winners in the two Health categories, along with those in Outdoor, Print and Radio, will be announced at the week’s first awards gala on Monday.

Health & Wellness (10)

Bensimon Byrne

White Ribbon, “Day After Day”
Non-profit/Foundation-led Education & Awareness (Film Craft: Direction)
Non-profit/Foundation-led Education & Awareness (Film: Cinema, TV and Digital Film Content)

Partners: Untitled Films, Alter Ego, Berkeley, Fort York VFX, Rooster Post Production, Jigsaw Casting

FCB Canada

Canadian Down Syndrome Society, “The Mindsets Paper”
Non-profit/Foundation-led Education & Awareness (Creative Data: Creative Data Collection & Research)

Partners: Fuel Content, Grayson Music, Radar Studios, Bliss Interactive

McCann Canada

Kids Help Phone, “Grown Up Problems”
Fundraising & Advocacy (Integrated)

Partners: Epitaph, Celebrity Link, Craft, Peculiar Entertainment, Romeo & Fils, Alter Ego, Grayson Music

No Fixed Address

Sunnybrook Hospital, “Unsilence The Conversation”
Health Services & Facilities (Branded Content & Entertainment: Digital & Social)
Health Services & Facilities (PR)

Partners: Stacked Films, Grayson Music, The Vanity

Rethink

Fondation Émergence, “Colours of Pride”
Non-profit/Foundation-led Education & Awareness (Outdoor: Ambient)

Partners: Grayson Music

YWCA Metro Vancouver, “Wall For Women”
Non-profit/Foundation-led Education & Awareness (Outdoor: Ambient)

Zulu Alpha Kilo

Black Business and Professional Association, et. al., “The Micropedia of Microagressions”
Non-profit/Foundation-led Education & Awareness (Digital)

Partners: Zulubot, Pirate, Black Business and Professional Association, Canadian Congress on Inclusive Diversity and Workplace Equity, Pride at Work Canada, Ryerson University

Pfaff Harley-Davidson, “The Tough Turban”
Health & Wellness Tech (Product Innovation)

Partners: Zulubot, Select PR, Nelson Connects, Spark Innovations