Illumina has been awarded two additional honors for its custom online coursework.

Media Corp informed Illumina that it won two Fall 2020 Bronze Omni Awards for its work on the Aware for All Virtual Reality Health Fair and Exhibit Hall for the Center for Information and Study on Clinical Research Participation (CISCRP). Illumina received awards in both the Health & Fitness and Non-Profit Categories.

Media Corp recognizes outstanding achievements in film/video, web, and mobile media, and accepts submissions from countries around the globe.

As COVID-19 shut down CISCRP’s plans to host health fairs in Chicago, Philadelphia, Raleigh, Los Angeles, and Miami in 2020, they decided to deliver some of the program in a live webinar format. However, CISCRP’s initial plan lacked the exhibit hall and health fair experience that was so important in connecting the public and clinical trial volunteers with medical professionals and others in the research community.

As a solution to CISCRP’s challenge, Illumina developed and launched a 360-degree virtual reality exhibit hall experience to accompany the webinars. In doing so, Illumina created an immersive interactive experience where participants can visit the virtual sponsor and exhibitor booths and learn about each exhibitor by reading posters and watching short videos, downloading PDF handouts, and linking to each exhibitor’s web site and social media pages. Unique and custom-designed versions of the VR health fair were deployed for all five cities included in CISCRP’s 2020 tour.

“We’re very thankful to the team at Illumina Interactive, who we know to be extremely well versed in these kinds of cutting-edge technologies, and first saw the potential for virtual reality,” said CISCRP’s Associate Director of Development & Community Engagement, Ellyn Getz. “They rapidly and creatively developed our first virtual exhibit hall in only five weeks – and it perfectly aligned with our goals, and surpassed expectations.”

“Attendees loved being able to walk around at their own pace and come back to each exhibit after the event,” Getz continued. “By creating an immersive learning experience, the event and educational content feels customized to each visitor and remains top-of-mind. This is one of many reasons why we’ve received increased interest from new exhibitors, and we’ve seen so many new and recurring visitors since our health fair launch date.”

These two Omni awards follow closely on Illumina’s receipt of two prestigious Platinum eHealthcare Leadership Awards at the end of 2020.