NEW YORK (OCT. 8, 2004) – Volvo Cars of North America won the 2004 PR Platinum Award for “Best Media Event” for its 2004 Volvo for life Awards ceremony.

Held this week in New York and presented by PR News magazine, the PR Platinum Awards recognizes outstanding communications initiatives and media relations campaigns.

The Volvo for life Awards is Volvo’s annual public service program that seeks out and recognizes everyday heroes with $1 million in financial contributions. The initiative calls for people to visit www.volvoforlifeawards.com to nominate an unsung hero they know. Celebrity judges, including Paul Newman, Caroline Kennedy, Hank Aaron and Sally Ride, select the program’s overall winners. Since the program’s inception in Dec. 2002, the initiative has received more than 5,000 hero nominations and garnered 750 million media impressions.

This year’s Volvo for life Awards ceremony was held April 7 at Times Square Studios, Ltd. Hosted by Jim Belushi and with music performances by Toots & the Maytals and Joss Stone, more than 275 top-tier media attended to witness: celebrity judges tell the stories of the winning heroes; documentaries of the top three heroes and a $50,000 charitable contribution to each top hero; and Volvo honor the program’s overall winner with a new Volvo every three years for life.

At the PR Platinum Awards ceremony, Volvo was recognized for this event in partnership with its Minneapolis-based brand public relations firm, Haberman & Associates, and its New York-based production firm, Fitzgerald Brunetti Productions.

Two years ago, Volvo, Haberman & Associates and Fitzgerald Brunetti also won the PR Platinum Award for Best Media Event for its Volvo 75th Anniversary Celebration, an event also held at Times Square Studios, Ltd. The celebration drew global attention as it featured Irv Gordon, a retired science teacher from Long Island, driving onto the studio’s stage to become the first person to drive two million miles in the same car, a 1966 Volvo P1800.

Volvo currently is teaming with Haberman & Associates and Fitzgerald Brunetti Productions to conduct the third annual Volvo for life Awards. Hero nominations are accepted through Jan. 10, 2005 at www.volvoforlifeawards.com, with the media event set for March 23, 2005.