The 2007 Founders' Awards were announced at the awards ceremony on November 2 in Philadelphia. These awards are named after the individuals who championed the competition in its early years. Winning entries with the highest evaluations are candidates for the competition's most prestigious recognition.

THE MICHAEL E. DeBAKEY, M.D., AWARD, named after the renowned cardiovascular surgeon who has supported our competition since its inception, is given to the finest educational entry of the year. The winner of this award was True Guts: Struggle and Triumph Over Crohn’s Disease and Ulcerative Colitis. Accepting the award was creator and producer Josh Golder from Dream Realization Media. This inspirational documentary, winner of the Inflammatory Disease category, breaks the silence about two chronic illnesses that have debilitating and embarrassing symptoms, but no known cause or cure. The film features four young people who struggle and triumph over Crohn’s Disease and ulcerative colitis.

THE SURGEON GENERAL'S AWARD, given for the best educational entry for health professionals, was awarded to the winner of the Surgery category, the AO Foundation, for their AO Surgery Reference. This online repository for surgical knowledge describes the complete surgical management process from diagnosis to aftercare for all fractures of a given anatomical region.

THE HELEN HAYES AWARD is named in honor of the late first lady of the stage who was a longtime supporter of the competition. This year we presented the award, which acknowledges the best production for the health consumer audience, to Glendale Adventist Medical Center for their creative video, A Little More Time…What's It Worth to You? The medical center has a heart disease screening program. They discovered that while 85% of the program participants reported serious cardiac-related symptoms, only half of those participants followed up with a physician. The use of this video has dramatically increased patient compliance.

THE ROBERT E. WISE AWARD for outstanding cinematography was awarded to Discovery Health's entry, Iraq: Front Line ER, winner in the category of Communications. This program takes viewers to the rarely-seen world of a war zone hospital and Level 3 trauma center, forty miles north of Baghdad at Balad Air Base. Viewers share the joys and sorrows of medical professionals working to save lives in one of the most dangerous locations in the world today.