BRUSSELS – The Smoke Free Partnership was awarded the 2015 Luther L. Terry Award for Exemplary Leadership in Tobacco Control for Outstanding Organisation by the American Cancer Society. The award was formally received during a ceremony organised on Thursday 19 March during the 16th World Conference on Tobacco or Health in Abu Dhabi.

The Luther L. Terry Award recognizes outstanding global achievement in the field of tobacco control in six categories: outstanding individual leadership, outstanding organization, outstanding research contribution, exemplary leadership by a government ministry, distinguished career, and outstanding community service.

Since its creation in 2006, Smoke Free Partnership (SFP) has been at the forefront of highly successful campaigns in a number of important EU tobacco control policy areas, including smoke-free policies. SFP has implemented successful pan-European projects aimed at building knowledge and capacity in tobacco taxation in collaboration with its partners Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) UK, Cancer Research UK and the European Heart Network. SFP has recently led a successful pan-European campaign bringing together tobacco control advocate from EU member states and beyond, laying the groundwork for the successful revision of the 2010-2014 EU Tobacco Products Directive (TPD). The World Health Organization (WHO) recognised SFP for its accomplishments in the area of tobacco control through the World No Tobacco Day Award in 2011.

Tobacco use killed 100 million people in the 20th century and will kill 1 billion people in the 21st century if current trends continue. Each year, tobacco use is responsible for almost 6 million premature deaths, 80 percent of which are in low- and middle-income countries. By 2030, this number is expected to increase to 8 million.

“Tobacco-related diseases are the most preventable cause of death worldwide, responsible for the deaths of approximately half of all long-term tobacco users,” said John R. Seffrin, Ph.D., chief executive officer of the American Cancer Society.

Operating with a small and dynamic team, SFP’s unique ability to combine strategic direction, expert knowledge and strong stakeholder relationships based on its robust partnerships, was recognised as an outstanding global achievement.

’’We are honoured to be nominated, and even more, to win this recognition in the company of most distinguished co-recipients, organisations and outstanding people alike. This award recognises our work on the TPD, but we must stress that this important success for European public health could not have happened without all of our partners’ direct involvement and support’’ said Ms Florence Berteletti, Director of Smoke Free Partnership.

Notes to Editors
About the American Cancer Society The American Cancer Society is a global grassroots force of more than three million volunteers saving lives and fighting for every birthday threatened by every cancer in every community. As the largest voluntary health organization, the Society's efforts have contributed to a 22 percent decline in cancer death rates in the U.S. during the past two decades, and a 50 percent drop in smoking rates. Thanks in part to our progress nearly 14.5 million Americans who have had cancer and countless more who have avoided it will celebrate more birthdays this year. We're determined to finish the fight against cancer. We're finding cures as the nation’s largest private, not-for-profit investor in cancer research, ensuring people facing cancer have the help they need and continuing the fight for access to quality health care, lifesaving screenings, clean air, and more. For more information, to get help, or to join the fight, visit www.cancer.org or call us anytime, day or night, at 1-800-227-2345.

About Smoke Free Partnership
The Smoke Free Partnership is a strategic, independent and flexible partnership between Cancer Research UK (www.cancerresearchuk.org), the European Heart Network (www.ehnheart.org) and Action on Smoking and Health (UK) (www.ash.org.uk). We aim to promote tobacco control advocacy and policy research at EU and national levels in collaboration with other EU health organisations and EU tobacco control networks. For additional information, evidence and data, please consult the SFP website at www.smokefreepartnership.eu.

Media Enquiries 
For further comment, please contact Florence Berteletti at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or +32 (0) 2 430 73 56 
Photos from the award ceremony can be found at http://wctoh.smugmug.com/Thursday-19-March- 2015/Luther-L-Terry-Awards/ 
More information on 2015 winners is available at http://www.wctoh.org/updates/acs-announces-2015- luther-l-terry-award-winners