Community activist and youth advocate, Cathy Plourde, will be awarded with Hardy Girls Healthy Women's annual Co-Creator Award as part of Girls Rock! Weekend this year.

The Co-Creator award is given annually to a Maine woman whose work is advancing the Hardy Girls' vision that all girls and women experience equality, independence, and safety in their everyday lives.

Plourde is founder and Program Director of Add Verb Productions at the Westbrook College of Health Professions, University of New England. Add Verb promotes health and wellness education through theater. Add Verb was founded in 2004, and in 2011 the program was added to the University of New England's InterPersonal Education Collaborative. According to their website, Add Verb programs have reached more than 150,000 people in 35 states and internationally.

Hardy Girls co-creator and professor at Colby College, Dr. Lyn Mikel Brown said that the co-creators chose Cathy for her passionate commitment to youth activism and social justice. "Cathy Plourde is a singular talent, with a keen sense of how to develop safe spaces for youth and open people's hearts and minds. As a writer, director, and producer, she has devoted her life to creating more inclusive communities and scaffolding youth activism. Lynn, Karen, and I can't think of anyone more deserving of our Co-Creator Award."

In addition, five Maine girls will be honored for their advocacy word to promote equality in sports, health, business and communities during the weekend, which is scheduled for March 30-April 1, 2012. More information on Girls Rock! Weekend can be found on the Hardy Girls' website: www.hghw.org.