Urban Wheel Awards Presented the Best of 2008
Held during press week of the North American International Auto Show, the 13th Annual Urban Wheel Awards event, honoring pioneering automotive industry leaders and serving as an educational vehicle to increase awareness among minority audiences about the importance of diversity to the industry, was held Tuesday January 13 at the Detroit Opera House. Awards were presented to the Company of the Year, Executive of the Year, Urban Car, and Urban Truck of the Year. Moreover, respecting the new eco-friendly trend in automotive industry, a green carpet replaced the traditional red carpet for celebrities and other notables to walk.
According to On Wheels Media Inc., a multicultural multimedia company that has produced the Urban Wheel Awards, the automotive industry’s premier diversity awards event since 1996, additional Urban Wheel Awards were presented for Diversity in Motorsports, as well as to the advertising agencies producing the most popular print and broadcast advertisements geared to African-American, Asian and Latino markets. The general public decided the winners by logging on to the Urban Wheel Awards website, www.urbanwheelawards.com/polls/.
Co-hosts “Dreamgirl” Sheryl Lee Ralph, acclaimed veteran of film, television and the Broadway stage, and Tony Plana, award-winning star of ABC’s “Ugly Betty”, filmmaker and stage director, led a star-studded cast of local and nationally known presenters including comedian Henry Cho and Congresswoman Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick. Celebrities in town for the Urban Wheel Awards have been chauffeured around Detroit in clean-diesel or hybrid vehicles, including Cadillac Escalades, Chrysler Aspens, Mercedes, BMWs and Volkswagens.
The 13th Annual Urban Wheel Awards winners are:
* Executive of the Year was Jocelyn K. Allen - VP, Public Affairs and Corporate Communications, OnStar
* Company of the Year: Mitsubishi Motors North America Manufacturing
* Car of the Year: Hyundai Genesis
* Truck of the Year: Ford Flex
* Diversity in Motorsports: Sprint
* African-American Diversity Broadcast Ad of the Year: UniWorld Group, Inc. - Lincoln MKS - “Mad Crazy Love”
* Latino Diversity Broadcast Ad of the Year: GlobalHue - Chrysler 300C - “Mano”
* Asian Diversity Broadcast Ad of the Year: AdAsia Communications- Subaru WRX STI - “Wooden Dummies”
* African American Diversity Print Ad of the Year: UniWorld Group, Inc. - Ford Flex - “Push It Good”
* Latino Diversity Print Ad of the Year: Accent Marketing - Chevrolet Aveo - “La Solucion Es Simple”
* Asian Diversity Print Ad of the Year: AdAsia Communications - Subaru Tribeca - “Carps”