Friends Don’t Let Friends
Drive Distracted

Contest Winners

EndDD.org Announces the Winners of the 2017 SADD Distracted Driving Video and Meme Contest

End Distracted Driving (EndDD.org) is thrilled to announce the winners of the 2017 SADD National Distracted Driving Video and Meme Contest. The awe-inspiring number of entries and their powerful messages have proven that teens truly have the power to keep their friends safe through caring, speaking up and creating positive peer pressure.

Students from 18 states submitted more than 170 individual entries. Many of the projects submitted were created as a group effort, tallying the number of student participants to more than 500.

“We’re so grateful for all the students who submitted videos, memes and GIFs to share important messages about distracted driving,” said EndDD.org Founder Joel Feldman. “The results have shown not only the outstanding breadth of creativity this generation has to offer, but also the seriousness with which teens take the dangers of distracted driving.”

“Our network at SADD really showed up for this contest and we are so happy to be part of an initiative that can truly change teen driver behavior for good,” said Dawn Teixeira, President and CEO of SADD.

The first, second, and third place winners for the video category are as follows:

$5,000 First Place (Video Category):  Daniel Ortega, ITW David Speer Academy, Chicago, IL, “Think of Others. Don’t Text & Drive”

Inspired by real stories of survivors who drove distracted and got their friends killed.

$2500 Second Place (Video Category): Gunnar Ortlieb, Seymour High School, Seymour, IN –  “Was It Worth It?”

Inspired as a first-year SADD Chapter to find an issue prevalent to the teenage population and specifically to their high school.

$1,000 Third Place (Video Category): Noah Ball and Joshua Earl Barrett, Raymour-Peculiar HS, Peculiar, MO – “What’s in Front of You.”

Inspired by people who know the victim of a fatal accident and the sadness it brings to those around them.

The first, second, and third place winners for the meme/GIF category are the following:

$5,ooo First Place (Meme/GIF Category): Adam Foerderer, Jacob Ochs and Chloe Lambrecht, Century High School, Bismarck, ND -“JustDrive”

$2500 Second Place (Video/GIF Category): Isabella Gillespie, Wheeling Park High School, Wheeling WV – “Busted”

$1,000 Third Place (Video/GIF Category): Chase Strike, University of TN, Knoxville, TN – “Ruff Time”

First place winners will also receive four tickets (per winning group) to the 2017 concert of their choice, compliments of RD Music & Marketing, Atlanta

Contest Brief

SADD/American Association for Justice(AAJ)/ Anapol Weiss and EndDD.org “Friends Don’t Let Friends Drive Distracted” Video and Meme/GIF Contest

Teens have the power to influence other teens in many positive ways, including safe driving. Distracted driving is now believed to be involved in more than 50% of serious teen crashes. So what can teens do to keep themselves and other teens safe from distracted driving crashes? Teens can take their energy, enthusiasm and imagination to create life-saving messages that will resonate with other teens to make distracted driving socially unacceptable.

Students from SADD- affiliated schools are eligible to submit videos up to 1 minute in length, or memes/GIFS(less than 10 seconds) that focus on the theme “Friends Don’t Let Friends Drive Distracted.”

See Video and Meme/GIF Requirements for specifics

Prizes

Prizes range from $5000 (first place), $2500 (second place) and $1000 (third place) and there will be 3 prize winners for videos and 3 separate prize winners for memes. Each first place winner will also receive four tickets (per winning group) to the 2017 concert of their choice, including acts like Lady Gaga, John Mayer, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Ariana Grande and more – compliments of RD Music.

Rules and Regulations

1. Students from Schools with SADD chapters are eligible to participate. If your school does not have a SADD chapter start one! It’s easy to do so. Here is how to start a SADD chapter in your school.
2. Submissions must be original and not contain any copyrighted or protected materials, content or music. See Waiver and Submission Form.
3. Videos must be less than 1 minute in length. See Video and Meme/GIF Requirements.
4. Videos and memes/GIFs must focus on one (or several) of the following themes:
   • Friends Don’t Let Friends Drive Distracted.
   • Caring friends will speak up even if it may be uncomfortable to do so
   • It’s not cool to drive distracted
   • Distracted driving is selfish, disrespectful, and inconsiderate
   • Even though our parents drive distracted, we won’t
   • Big brothers and sisters must model distraction-free driving for their younger siblings
   • Distracted drivers can’t be defensive drivers
5. Entries will be judged on adherence to requirements, creativity and message.
6. Submissions must be completed with applicable Forms no later than March 31, 2017. Winners will be announced April 14th as part of Distracted Driving Awareness Month events.

Judges

Judges will include:

Questions

Have any questions? Feel free to contact us at any time
[email protected]

Bystander Intervention

Friend’s don’t let friends drive distracted

Just the way you would speak up if a friend tried to drive drunk you can speak up if your friends try to drive distracted. Since more teens will be killed or injured in distracted driving crashes than drunk driving crashes, shouldn’t we speak up when others drive distracted?  We all have a right to be driven by drivers who are focused on the road and not on their phones.

Tell your friends you don’t want them to drive distracted and you have a really good chance of changing their driving. Don’t assume they will be mad because you are criticizing their driving  In a recent study 90% of teens said they would stop driving distracted if a friend asked them to, and nearly half said they would be grateful if a friend asked them not to drive distracted.

EndDD.org’s distracted driving bystander intervention is composed of 3 separate  steps:

1. Acknowledge the dangerous behavior in a factual non-emotional manner if you can

• “I see that you are having trouble staying in your lane while texting”
• “I  see you are steering with your knees because your hands are full”

2. Voice your Feelings using “I” statements avoiding being accusatory (“your driving is …”)

• “I am a little nervous when you text”
• “It scares me when the car goes over the center line”

3. Solve the problem by offering a solution-sharing responsibility with driver

• “Let me send that text for you”
•  “I can answer the phone”
• “We are not in a hurry-pull over so you can use your hands to eat”

By speaking up we have the power to save lives.

For more information about EndDD.org’s bystander intervention e-mail [email protected]