MUMBAI: A photo montage created by Eastman Kodak celebrating the citizens of Greece and the return of the Olympic Games to Athens won the Gold Award in its category at the third annual Effie Hellas 2004 Awards.
 

 
The Effie Awards are presented annually by the New York American Marketing Association in recognition of the year's advertising campaigns that have delivered superior results in meeting the objectives they were designed to achieve.

The photo montage titled The Whole of Greece in One Smile comprises of 16,609 photos of the Greek community that cover a surface area of over 5,000 square feet. The montage, situated in the Athens Syntagma Square opposite the Parliament of Greece, was recognised by the Guinness Book of World Records as the largest photo montage ever created.

Kodak issued a release stating that it created the montage to honor the citizens of Greece in keeping with the company's historic association with the Olympics. George Eastman who founded Kodak, began the company's association with the Games in 1896 - when he placed an advertisement for the Athens Games.

Kodak Near East GM Lazaros Piatopoulos made the following remarks about the endeavour. "We decided to create something that would give all visitors to Athens the chance to share in the spirit of the Olympic Games. The people of Greece were invited to send a picture and be part of history in the largest-ever photographic montage. The photos of the 16,609 Greeks that responded made up the face of a child whose smile looks at the future with hope and awaits the Athens 2004 Olympic Games with pride. . With the theme Golden Past. Brilliant Future we intend to continue to empower the world to share in the Olympic spirit."