Female Nominees and Presenters, 'Raise Your Right Hand Ring for Africa' This 2007 Awards Season

Female Nominees and Presenters, 'Raise Your Right Hand Ring for Africa' This 2007 Awards Season

Hollywood's Leading Ladies Can Proudly Wear a Diamond Right Hand Ring and Help Donate Up to $100,000 in Contributions to Benefit Southern Africa

LOS ANGELES, Jan. 11 /PRNewswire/ -- Today the Diamond Information Center (DIC) announced the official kick-off of the Raise Your Right Hand Ring for Africa campaign at its 6th Annual InStyle Golden Globes Luncheon. Hollywood's leading female nominees and presenters are invited to proudly wear a Diamond Right Hand Ring on this year's red carpet at one of the upcoming 2007 awards shows: Golden Globes, 49th Annual GRAMMY Awards or Academy Awards and a $10,000 donation will be granted in their name to a special project or cause of their choice benefiting Southern Africa. The diamond industry hopes Hollywood's leading ladies will help generate up to $100,000 in donations for key projects or causes in Southern Africa.

Raise Your Right Hand Ring for Africa is presented by the U.S. diamond industry in partnership with a select group of leading diamond brands that have a time-honored tradition and reputation for dressing today's major A-list celebrity nominees and presenters year-over-year during awards season. Key diamond brands participating in Raise Your Right Hand Ring for Africa include H. Stern, Martin Katz, and Neil Lane, just to name a few.

Together, the diamond industry aims to foster increased awareness and education about how diamonds are vital to the continued prosperity of key diamond-producing nations around the world, particularly Southern Africa which represents nearly 65 percent of the world's diamond supply.

"Diamonds help to ensure a better livelihood for Southern Africa and its people," said Diamond Information Center Director Sally Morrison. "With the simple gesture of Raising Your Right Hand Ring for Africa, we hope to inspire some of today's most powerful women in Hollywood to showcase how diamonds can make a positive lifelong impact on a community and directly benefit Southern Africa and its future transformation."

As a major natural resource for Southern African nations, diamonds are helping to reinvigorate Southern Africa's economy and their community's lives in four key ways: financial, health, education and employment. Raise Your Right Hand Ring for Africa not only works to encourage awareness, but also raise broad public support for Southern Africa by focusing on the continued financing of AIDS/HIV education and treatment, child orphans, schooling, as well as community sustainability initiatives. Key projects and causes will support these four core areas of rejuvenation.

The Diamond Right Hand Ring Tradition

Over the course of the last four years, the Diamond Right Hand Ring has come to represent a woman's independence and prosperity and a symbol of a woman's brilliant accomplishments, personal success, freedom and power. Stars like Jennifer Aniston, Debra Messing and Sarah Jessica Parker have been pioneers of the Right Hand Ring, introducing a large following of other stars that have deemed it the 'perfect accessory for award night.' Shining bright from the hands of Charlize Theron, Megan Mullally, Renee Zellweger and others during their awards acceptance speeches, some may even say that the Diamond Right Hand Ring has been their good luck charms.

Source: Diamond Information Center

CONTACT: Erin Shiba (DIC), +1-310-854-3257, Erin.Shiba@jwt.com; or
Joanna Cichocki (BNC), +1-310-854-4773, jcichocki@bncpr.com, for Diamond
Information Center

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