2005-2006 Trumpeter Campaign Contest

Hey kids, do you want to show other kids that making healthy choices is important?

How about being recognized for a job well done?

Here’s Your Chance!

The Office of Community Services has a contest for you. During Red Ribbon Week, your school may have hosted a speaker who talked to you about the powerful influence of tobacco advertising. Now, it’s YOUR turn to show what YOU know. This is YOUR chance to tell the TRUTH about tobacco. You can enter the Trumpeter Campaign contest by creating YOUR own TOBACCO advertisement that tells the TRUTH. Talk with your teacher to find out if your school is participating.

You can enter the contest by creating an anti-tobacco ad in ONE of these categories:

1. SOnG or RaP (must be written and recorded on VHS tape)
2. shOrt PLAY or sKit (must be written and recorded on VHS tape)
3. PoSTeR & SLoGaN (designed on poster-board OR 8 " X 11" paper)
4. EsSAY (must be typed; optional: recorded on VHS tape)

Your counter-advertisement must be an original tobacco ad designed to help kids make the healthy choice – NOT to use tobacco products!

2004–2005 Overall Winners

Jennifer Harper & Genna Wyrick, 1st Place Overall, $1,000
Lexington Middle School

Stacy Cumbie, 2nd Place Overall, $750
Lexington Intermediate School

Lindsay Sharpe, 3rd Place Overall, $500
Hand Middle School

District-Level Winners
District-level winners represented the following districts:
Richland I
Lexington I
Lexington 2
Lexington 4
District 5

Winning Schools
School-level winners represented the following schools:
Chapin Middle School
Hand Middle School
Hopkins Middle School
Lexington Intermediate                                   
Northside Middle School
Sandhills Intermediate     
Southeast Middle School
W.G. Sanders Middle School

Trumpeter Campaign Contest Details

The Office of Community Services is following up its educational presentations last fall with a contest. The contest allows students to demonstrate their response to the influences of tobacco advertising and how they can counter these images with the truth about tobacco. The contest, like the educational presentation, is for sixth grade students. This is a wonderful opportunity for your students to be publicly recognized by the Office of Community Services.

If your school plans to participate, please contact the Office of Community Services at 803.296.3070 or via email at Trumpeter@PalmettoHealth.org by January 18. Indicate your school, your name, telephone number, best time to reach you (i.e. planning period, etc.), and the number of sponsoring teachers and 6th grade students that will be participating so that contest materials will be delivered to you on or by January 25. These materials will include: colorful contest flyers for each student, posters, consent forms, and a copy of the contest guidelines for each sponsoring teacher.

(Note: You may need to download Adobe Acrobat Reader to view the consent form.)

The focus of the contest is counter tobacco advertising. The contest schedule follows:

January 23–February 17— Students research and complete the category option of their choice (song, play, poster, or essay)

February 17 — Submissions due to sponsoring teacher(s) for selection

February 20–24 — In-school selection of school level winners

February 28 — All school level winners with consent forms* due to the Office of Community Services by 5 p.m. located at 1501 Sumter Street, Columbia, SC 29202. Call 296-3070 for more information.

March 6 –10 — School level winners are evaluated by Office of Community Services judges.

March 13–15 — Names of category and overall winners disseminated to schools

April/May TBA — Winners recognized at Trumpeter Awards Ceremony held at Palmetto Health Baptist Auditorium

*All entries that are recognized as school level winners require a completed and signed consent form by the student’s parent or guardian to be eligible for prizes. Four copies of this form will be included with contest materials delivered to teachers.

Encouraging children to use knowledge and skills to diffuse tobacco advertising and resist the pressure to use tobacco products is important to their immediate and future health. A contest, such as this one, provides a valuable opportunity for students to revisit and utilize these skills. Your school can participate in the contest even if it did not participate in last fall’s educational presentations.

Submission Deadline: Tuesday, February 28, 2006; 5 p.m.

CONTEST

All submissions should capture the theme of countering tobacco advertising. Tobacco advertising influences the decisions of young people regarding tobacco use. One way to fight this influence is through the creation of counter advertisements. Examples of counter advertising in the Columbia area are the billboards sponsored by DHEC and Project ASSIST that show young children and messages outlining stages of their lives from first steps to first hot dog to first pet to first cigarette at a very young age. These counter advertisements seek to raise awareness of how destructive tobacco use is and how tobacco messages reach young people.

Tobacco companies infiltrate markets that appeal to kids with their logos, information, brand names, sex appeal, attempts at creating normalcy, party atmosphere, and visibility. Using some of the same formats tobacco companies have used in the past to target kids, the contest urges students to create their own advertisements that tell the truth about tobacco.

Students can be involved in the contest in one of the category options explained on the following page. Categories 1 and 2 are considered group entry formats with a maximum number of 4 participants*. Categories 3 and 4 are considered individual entries. [An individual may submit an entry in category 1 or 2 if not working with a small group on the entry.]

*Monetary prizes will be equally distributed if winning entries have more than one participant.

All submissions become property of the Office of Community Services and will not be returned. Submission Deadline: Tuesday, February 28, 2006; 5 p.m.

Category Options

1. Write and perform a song or rap that counters tobacco advertisements and lets peers and friends know the truth about tobacco. The song or rap should be no more than five minutes long. Videotape a performance of the song or rap. Make sure the tape is reviewed for sound quality. The song or rap is to be turned in on a VHS tape with a written or typed copy of the lyrics. Be sure to include the names and addresses of all participants on the written copy of the lyrics. Each participant must turn in a signed consent form if the song/rap is selected as a school level winning entry. The maximum number of participants in the song/rap is 4.
   
2. Write and perform a short play that counters tobacco advertisements and lets peers and friends know the truth about tobacco. The play can be more like a role-play or a skit but should focus on tobacco advertising and the truth about tobacco. Videotape a performance of the play. The play should be between three and five minutes long. Make sure the tape is reviewed for sound quality. The play is to be turned in on a VHS tape with a written or typed copy of the script. Be sure to include the names and addresses of all participants on the written copy of the script. Each participant must turn in a signed consent form if the play/skit is selected as a school level winning entry. The maximum number of participants in the play/skit is four (4).
   
3. Develop a slogan and make a poster that could be a billboard that counters tobacco advertisements and lets peers and friends know the truth about tobacco. The poster should be turned in on white poster-size paper with the slogan clearly written somewhere on the poster. The poster is to be turned in with a brief written explanation of the message and design. A signed consent form must be turned in if the entry is selected as a school level winning entry.
   
4. Write an essay (limit 200 words) on the influences of tobacco advertisements on young people’s decision to use or not to use tobacco products. What do other people the student’s age need to know about tobacco and how to fight the influence of tobacco advertising? The essay must be typed. A signed consent form must be turned in if the entry is selected as a school level winning entry.

Students must work alone for this contest except in the cases of category options 1 and 2. All school level winners will receive certificates of recognition for participating in the contest. Students who participate in category options 1 and 2 will equally share all monetary awards if chosen as school, district, and/or overall winners.

Each student's/group's work should be an original submission.

All submissions must include the student name(s), sponsoring teacher, and school name. Only those students listed on the entry as presented to the Office of Community Services on February 28, 2006 will be considered for monetary prizes. [Be sure the entry includes names of all students who should receive recognition for work. The maximum number of students for categories 1 and 2 is four students.]

AWARDS

In each classroom, a winner should be selected and submitted to the larger school committee. A team appointed by the school will select a winner for each format option from each school. If no entries are received for a category option, no monetary prize will be awarded. Each school will then provide the Office of Community Services with the school level winning entries by Tuesday, February 28 at 5 p.m. for further evaluation. These entries MUST be accompanied by completed and signed consent forms!* The Office of Community Services will organize a panel of community judges who will select winners for each category option from the school level winning entries.

From category winners, overall winners (first, second, and third) will be selected. The Office of Community Service’s panel of community judges will be judging all entries on the basis of originality, message, grammar and usage, feasibility, and relevance. A copy of the Contest Evaluation Form may be downloaded to help you and your students to better understand what criteria will be used to evaluate the entries.

(Note: You may need to download Adobe Acrobat Reader to view the consent and evaluation forms.)

Winners will be announced no later than March 15, 2006. All school level, district level, and overall winners will receive prizes at a date to be determined in late April or early May.

School Level Winners (each school may submit up to 4 entries/one per category option)

• $25 per category

Category Winners

• First Place – $125
• Second Place – $100
• Third Place – $75

Overall Winners (selected by Office of Community Services panel of judges)

• First Place—$750
• Second Place—$500
• Third Place—$250

*All school level winning entries that are submitted to the Office of Community Services require a completed and signed consent form by the students’ parents or legal guardians to be eligible for prizes.

One student will win a total of $900 by virtue of winning school level ($25), first place category winner ($125), and overall first place ($750)!

Resources

Tobacco messages can be found almost everywhere—in popular magazines, convenience stores, grocery stores, along the roadside, in movies, and elsewhere. Students may want to find an example of a tobacco advertisement. Determine what the advertisement is saying or selling to them, and then come up with a similar message that tells the truth about tobacco products. Magazines such as TV Guide, People, Sports Illustrated, ESPN The Magazine, Jet, Woman’s Day, and VIBE may contain tobacco advertisements for students to use as examples.

Questions about the contest should be directed to the Office of Community Services at 803-296-3070 or via email to: Trumpeter@PalmettoHealth.org.

For more information, ask your teacher or check with your school’s media center. Use your imagination! Be creative!

Contest deadline: Tuesday, February 28, 2006.