The Club won the special honor in both categories for highest number of public votes for African World Heritage Day content
San Francisco (November 21, 2024) – Bay FC, the professional soccer franchise representing the Bay Area in the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) won the Audience Honor in the Multi-Cultural Campaign and Sports categories at the 2024 Shorty Impact Awards last night, Wednesday, November 20, 2024. The Club was honored for its social media content honoring African World Heritage Day. The Shorty Impact Awards is an international competition dedicated to honoring purpose-driven work that drives positive change; the Audience Honor is a special honor given to the entry with the highest number of public votes.
Bay FC’s World African Heritage Day social media campaign created three unique pieces of content:
- The first was a “mic’d up” feature with Bay FC Forward and Ghana-native Princess Marfo to meaningfully uplift the voices of those who often go unheard.
- The second piece focused on Bay FC strikers – Asisat Oshoala of Nigeria and Racheal Kundananji of Zambia – reading funny and supportive comments from Bay FC social media followers in their respective countries.
- The third and final segment focused on promoting greater awareness around African Heritage with a ‘Question of the Day’ video asking Bay FC players at training and Bay FC fans on matchday questions about Africa and its history.
As part of Bay FC’s in-game entertainment experience on May 5th, Bay FC honored African heritage with traditional dance performances and music pre-match, Africa Trivia for fans to learn new facts about Ghana, Zambia, and Nigeria, and a special African dance performance at halftime. The content was played throughout the night on the videoboard.
The Multi-Cultural Campaign category honors a campaign that reaches people from different cultural or ethnic backgrounds to create positive impact through culturally relevant messages. Bay FC was a finalist alongside 10 other campaigns including Vaseline, NBCUniversal, Big Brothers Big Sisters of America, WBD’s Courageous Studios, Cadbury Dairy Milk, Max, and Starbucks, among others. Bay FC won the Audience Honor with Triple Eight, Cadbury Dairy Milk winning the overall Multi-Cultural Campaign category.
The Sports category honors a pro-social campaign, original content or initiative created by a sports team, athlete, league, network, publication, or service. Bay FC was a finalist alongside seven other campaigns including the World Surf League, FOX Sports, The International Olympic Committee, NBA, and others. Bay FC won the Audience Honor with Sela x Newcastle United winning the overall Sports category.
The Shorty Awards are judged by the Real Time Academy – experts in the ever-changing digital space. They are selected based on their industry knowledge and professional reputation. Finalists and winner decisions are made based on three main criteria: purpose/impact, creativity, strategy and execution, and engagement. Finalists, winners, and honors must have a minimum score to be considered.
Season tickets for Bay FC’s 2025 season at PayPal Park in San Jose are now available for purchase at bayfc.com. Fans can also follow @wearebayfc on social channels for more exciting announcements to come.
About Bay Football Club
Bay Football Club (Bay FC) is the professional soccer franchise representing the Bay Area and the 14th team to join the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL). Bay FC was established in April 2023 and co-founded by USWNT legends Brandi Chastain, Leslie Osborne, Danielle Slaton, and Aly Wagner in partnership with global investment firm Sixth Street and an investor group of leading tech, business and sports executives. Sixth Street’s investment is the largest institutional investment to date in a women’s professional sports franchise. Bay FC is changing the face of women’s soccer as we know it. Beginning play in the 2024 season, we are building a squad that will play the beautiful game with power, passion, energy, and creativity. Tickets are now on sale for Bay FC at https://bayfc.com and fans can follow Bay FC’s social channels (@wearebayfc) for the latest news, merchandise, and events.
