Winning High School and College Students Will Have TV,
Radio and Billboards Distributed Nationally
NEW
YORK, June 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, the
Ad Council and Project Yellow Light announced the winners of the
12th annual Project Yellow Light scholarship
competition, a unique opportunity in which students create TV,
radio and billboard PSAs to educate their peers about the dangers
of distracted driving, specifically the dangers of using your phone
while driving. The winning PSAs will be showcased on June 30 on a digital billboard in New York City's Times Square, in space donated
by Clear Channel Outdoor.
Experience the full interactive Multichannel News Release here:
https://www.multivu.com/players/English/9094553-project-yellow-light-scholarship-contest-announces-student-winners/
"With over 2,600 submissions this year, coming from all 50
states and D.C., we are ecstatic to announce the 2023 Hunter Garner
Scholarship winners and celebrate their important role in our
mission of saving lives," said Project Yellow Light
Founder, Julie Garner. "Thanks
to the creativity of these students and our partners' support, we
are making a difference by reducing the number of crashes caused by
distracted driving."
Project Yellow Light was established in 2007 by the family of
Hunter Garner to honor his memory
after his death in a car crash at age 16. In 2021, drivers in the
15-20 age group made up 8 percent of drivers in fatal crashes but
were 11 percent of all distracted drivers and 16 percent of drivers
distracted by cell phones in fatal crashes. This age group has the
largest proportion of drivers who were distracted at the time of
the fatal crashes.
For nearly 12 years, Project Yellow Light and the Ad Council
have collaborated to place the winning student PSAs on 1,800 TV
stations, iHeartMedia radio stations, and Clear Channel Outdoor's
total of more than 1,700 digital displays across the U.S.
"Peers are crucial messengers to reach teens, and this message
of saving lives from distracted driving is as timely as ever,"
said Michelle Hillman, Ad
Council Chief Campaign Development Officer. "For 12 years, we
have been continuously impressed by the talent and creativity shown
by our winning students and their PSAs. We are thrilled for this
year's student winners."
Supporting partners include Clear Channel Outdoor (CCO),
Elephant Insurance, iHeartMedia, the National Highway Traffic
Safety Administration (NHTSA), National 4-H Council, the National
Organizations for Youth Safety (NOYS), PIX 11, and WKRN-TV
Nashville. Scholarships for this year's winning students are
supported through Clear Channel Outdoor and Elephant Insurance.
The contest received over 2,600 submissions this year. Entries
were received from students representing all 50 states and
Washington, D.C. The 2023
scholarship prizes were awarded to:
- A Dinosaur's Distraction (video, high
school): Madison Salee (Wylie,
TX)
- Self-Care (video, college): Zoë Taylor
(Overland Park, KS), Rachel Ankeney (Fort
Worth, TX), Bethany Curtis
(Memphis, TN)
- On and Off (billboard design, high
school): Sydney Waldrop
(Bothell, WA)
- Don't Scroll (billboard design,
college): Jami Pandiscio
(Franklin, MA)
- Multitasker (radio, high school): Jaden Nybakken
(Minneapolis, MN)
- DND (radio, college): Kambria Cook (Richmond, VA)
This year's entries were judged by a number of advertising
industry executives and artists who lent their time to support this
scholarship competition. The panel for this year included recording
artist and songwriter Aloe Blacc; renowned filmmaker and social
activist Kweku Mandela; Wendy Clark, Partner at The Consello Group;
Wordsworth + Booth President Tony
Mennuto; Co-Chairman and Partner of Goodby Silverstein &
Partners Jeff Goodby; award-winning poet, songwriter, and author
IN-Q; and representatives from The Martin Agency, Organic and
Project Yellow Light partners.
"Project Yellow Light continues to have a powerful impact in
many ways, from reminding drivers to stay focused on the road to
giving students the opportunity to use their voice and creativity
to drive positive change," said Dan
Levi, EVP & CMO, Clear Channel Outdoor. "We
applaud this year's winners for creating these lifesaving messages
and are incredibly proud to showcase their work in Times Square and
across the nation."
"It has been an honor to support Project Yellow Light and the
Hunter Garner Scholarship for the past five years. We believe the
peer-to-peer messaging around the dangers of distracted driving is
a powerful and effective approach to protecting young drivers,"
said Elephant Insurance CEO Alberto
Schiavon. "Congratulations to this year's winners for
approaching this topic with passion, creativity and technical
skill."
"iHeart's partnership with Project Yellow Light, now in its
sixth year, remains a critical initiative for iHeart,"
said Jessica King, Senior
Vice President, Communications and Community Engagement at
iHeartMedia. "Vehicular fatalities are at an all-time high
and distracted driving is a serious concern, especially among young
people, and we hope to reach teens even more effectively through
this unique campaign, using peer-to-peer created messaging to
remind them to remain engaged and undistracted when driving."
"Project Yellow Light is an incredible nationwide program that
leverages the power of young people to drive social change in
traffic safety," said Jacob
Smith, Executive Director, National Organizations for Youth
Safety. "NOYS is proud to partner with Project Yellow Light and
harness the power of young people to help prevent distracted
driving."
"PIX 11 is proud to support Project Yellow Light's mission to
curtail distracted driving. We congratulate the next generation of
creative minds who produced such impactful messages," said
Alex Lee, Traffic Reporter and New
York Living Contributor, PIX 11. "I'm extremely proud to
support this cause that I feel so connected to."
Through the Distracted Driving Prevention campaign, the Ad
Council and NHTSA have been working together to prevent distracted
driving since 2012.
*Data
Source: https://crashstats.nhtsa.dot.gov/Api/Public/ViewPublication/813435
The Ad Council
The Ad Council convenes the best storytellers to educate, unite and
uplift—by opening hearts, inspiring action and accelerating change.
Since our WWII founding as a nonpartisan nonprofit, the Ad Council
and our partners, who include leaders across the marketing and
media communities, have been behind some of America's most
recognizable and impactful campaigns, including Smokey Bear, A Mind Is a Terrible Thing to
Waste, and Love Has No Labels, which champions diversity and
inclusion in all forms. Our historic COVID-19 Vaccine Education
Initiative was the largest and most urgent communications effort in
American history. And with a current focus on mental health, racial
justice, and other critical issues, we won't stop until we've built
a culture where everyone can thrive. To learn more about the Ad
Council and its campaigns, visit AdCouncil.org, like us
on Facebook, follow us on Twitter or view our PSAs
on YouTube.
Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings
Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: CCO) is at the
forefront of driving innovation in the out-of-home advertising
industry. Our dynamic advertising platform is broadening the pool
of advertisers using our medium through the expansion of digital
billboards and displays and the integration of data analytics and
programmatic capabilities that deliver measurable campaigns that
are simpler to buy. By leveraging the scale, reach and flexibility
of our diverse portfolio of assets, we connect advertisers with
millions of consumers every month across more than 500,000 print
and digital displays in 22 countries.
Elephant Insurance
Elephant Insurance is an auto insurance company that provides
consumers with the tools and advice they need to buy and use auto
insurance. Elephant is known for its customer focus, innovative
pricing, and inclusive work culture. Headquartered in Richmond, Virginia, Elephant is a wholly owned
subsidiary of Admiral Group, plc., a FTSE 100 company and one of
the U.K.'s leading insurers with a presence in eight countries and
millions of customers worldwide. Elephant is listed by Forbes as one of America's Best Insurance
Companies and certified as a Great Place to Work®. To
learn more, visit elephant.com.
iHeartMedia
iHeartMedia, Inc. [Nasdaq: IHRT] is the leading audio media company
in America, reaching over 90% of Americans every month. iHeart's
broadcast radio assets alone have more consumer reach in the U.S.
than any other media outlet; twice the reach of the next largest
broadcast radio company; and over four times the ad-enabled reach
of the largest digital only audio service. iHeart is the largest
podcast publisher according to Podtrac, with more downloads than
the next two podcast publishers combined and has the number one
social footprint among audio players, with seven times more
followers than the next audio media brand, and the only fully
integrated audio ad tech solution across broadcast, streaming and
podcasts. The company continues to leverage its strong audience
connection and unparalleled consumer reach to build new platforms,
products and services. Visit iHeartMedia.com for more
company information.
NHTSA
For more than 50 years, the National Highway Traffic Safety
Administration (NHTSA) has served as the key federal agency charged
with improving safety on our nation's roadways. As part of the U.S.
Department of Transportation, NHTSA is working to reduce
traffic-related deaths and injuries by promoting the use of seat
belts and child safety seats; helping states and local communities
address the threat of distracted, drunk and drug-impaired drivers;
regulating vehicle safety standards and investigating safety
defects in motor vehicles; establishing and enforcing fuel economy
standards; conducting research on driver behavior and traffic
safety; and providing consumer information on issues ranging from
child passenger safety to impaired driving. For more information
visit www.nhtsa.gov.
National 4-H Council
National 4-H Council is the non-profit partner to the nation's
largest youth development organization. 4-H is the youth
development program of our nation's Cooperative Extension System
and USDA and serves every county and parish in the U.S. through a
network of 110 public universities and more than 3,000 local
Extension offices. 4-H programs empower nearly six million young
people across the U.S. through experiences that develop critical
life skills. Globally, 4-H collaborates with independent programs
to empower one million youth in 50 countries. Learn more about 4-H
and follow us
on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
National Organizations for Youth Safety
National Organizations for Youth Safety (NOYS) is a national
youth-powered organization leveraging 25+ years of collaborative
engagement and expertise to position young people to lead in
addressing the most pressing youth health and safety issues
affecting them today – with traffic safety being a key issue.
Founded by the U.S Department of Transportation, NOYS has played an
integral part in the traffic safety industry by supporting youth
(15-29) in developing youth-led traffic safety programs and
campaigns. Youth are mobilized to take action through peer-to-peer
education, community mobilization, and youth-powered advocacy.
Learn more at www.NOYS.org.
PIX 11
WPIX-TV (PIX 11) was founded in 1948. It was bought by Mission
Broadcasting, Inc. in 2020 and is operated by Nexstar Media Group.
Long been regarded as a groundbreaking station in New York, PIX 11's successful primetime
programming, award-winning news, extensive library of hit movies,
first-run programs, off-network sitcom favorites, quality
children's programming and public affairs shows, as well as
outstanding event coverage, have contributed to the station's
success. PIX 11 has earned hundreds of Emmy® Awards including
multiple awards for Outstanding Morning News Program, Outstanding
Newscast, and Interactivity. The station has been honored with
numerous other prestigious awards for excellence in reporting, news
coverage, public affairs, specials, and features.
Project Yellow Light
Project Yellow Light is a scholarship competition where high
school and college students create compelling PSAs persuading their
peers to develop safe driving habits. This project gives students a
voice and a role in preventing car crashes — one of the leading
causes of death of teenagers and young adults in the U.S. Project
Yellow Light was created by Julie, Lowell
and Alex Garner in memory of their son/brother, Hunter, who
died tragically in a car crash in 2007. Each year the winners
receive the Hunter Garner Scholarship.
WKRN-TV Nashville
WKRN-TV Nashville and wkrn.com are part of Nexstar Media Group.
Nexstar Media Group is America's largest local television and media
company with 200 full power stations in 116 markets and a growing
digital media operation. WKRN-TV Nashville serves the Mid-state of
Tennessee and Southern Kentucky.
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SOURCE Ad Council