Louisiana DOTD Contest to Bring Awareness to Distracted Driving

Louisiana DOTD Contest to Bring Awareness to Distracted Driving
Published May 12, 2021
The Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development’s regional safety coalition, Destination Zero Deaths, is bringing awareness to distracted driving through a new statewide contest geared towards middle and high school students. This contest is designed to encourage young drivers to advocate for safe driving decisions and become the voice of positive messaging in their respective campuses and communities.
In 2019, a study conducted by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration found that Louisiana is the seventh deadliest state for distracted driving fatalities. According to the latest data, 186 people were killed in crashes involving distracted drivers in 2019 and 479 people were seriously injured. Texting while driving is an especially problematic trend among younger drivers who accounted for 16% of the distracted driving deaths on our roadways in 2019.
The contest is open to students in grades sixth to 12th statewide and must contain a distracted driving safety message through the creation of a meme or short video. Submissions opened May 3 and will close Sept. 10, with winners announced Oct. 17-23. Students have the opportunity to win various monetary prizes, ranging from $100 to $750.
LA Destination Zero Deaths Distracted Driving Meme or Video Contest 2021 Guidelines
Your mission: Create an original meme or video to encourage safe driving.
A Distracted Driver in Louisiana is one who is actively engaging in any activity that diverts his/her attention from the task of driving. The
distraction could be manual, visual, or cognitive and may be inside or outside of the vehicle. This statewide contest hopes to encourage
young drivers to advocate for safe driving decisions and become the voice of positive messaging in their respective campuses and
communities. In 2019, a study by NHTSA found that Louisiana is the 7th deadliest state for distracted driving fatalities.
Rules:
• Contest is open to Louisiana students in 6th-12th grades at the date of entry submission.
• Individual students and school-sponsored student groups such as teams and clubs may enter.
• Individual prizes will be awarded to the student and group prizes will be awarded to the school for the group.
• Content must contain an original distracted driving safety message.
• Content must obey copyright laws and not contain offensive language or dangerous content. See Submission Standards in
Contest Official Rules.
• Meme should include a theme, tag line, or statistic.
• Video may be between 30 seconds and 2 minutes in length and it must be 25 MG or less. If filming from a smartphone, shoot
footage horizontally.
6th-8th Grade Prizes:1
• Meme Submissions: 1st place $300, 2nd place $200, 3rd place $100
• Video Submissions: 1st place $750, 2nd place $500, 3rd place $250
9th-12th Grade Prizes:1
• Meme Submissions: 1st place $300, 2nd place $200, 3rd place $100
• Video Submissions: 1st place $750, 2nd place $500, 3rd place $250
How to Enter:
• Email your entry to [email protected] as soon as it is ready!
• Meme and Video Submissions: Complete and submit Entry Form, Contest Release Form, and Photo Release Form for every
person appearing in the video or meme.
• Video Submissions: Complete and submit Video Written Credits Form.
• Depending on the number of submissions, additional winners may be selected.
Judging Criteria:
• 40% Ability to inspire others to change/improve their driving habits.
• 20% Ability to capture the attention of others, specifically young drivers.
• 20% Clarity of message. Must be clear and concise.
• 15% Creative Expression. It should be unique that will resonate with other drivers.
• 5% Your design should be of good production quality.
Timeline:
• Contest opens on May 3, 2021, and closes on September 10, 2021.
• Winners will be announced October 17-23, 2021.
An entry form, contest guidelines and rules, and more information can be found at https://tinyurl.com/
For more information, on how to join statewide efforts to help reduce the number of serious injuries and fatalities on our roadways caused by distracted driving and to help us meet Destination Zero Deaths goal, please visit www.destinationzerodeaths.com.
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