Contest Brief

SADD/Lear Corporation and EndDD.org 2021 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 their peers 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 high schools and colleges are eligible to submit videos up to 1 minute in length, or memes/GIFs (less than 10 seconds) that focus on the topics set forth below. The contest includes elementary and middle school students, who may submit memes or Gifs. Separate prizes will be awarded for college and high school student videos and memes, and middle school and elementary school memes as set forth below.

Topics to be Addressed in Videos and Memes/GIFs.

The following are suggested issues that can be explored for contest submissions. One of the judging criteria will be the extent to which the suggested issues are referenced, utilized or incorporated into submissions. It is not likely that students who submit entries that are not responsive will be considered for the 1st place prizes. Where studies or surveys are cited students may, but are not required, to refer to those studies or surveys.

  1. Friends Don’t Let Friends Drive Distracted – Friends don’t let friends drive drunk-we all know that and have been taught that for years. But If we care about our friends or family shouldn’t we speak up when we see them driving distracted? More teens will be injured or killed from distracted driving than drunk driving, with 58% of serious teen crashes caused by distraction. Students can keep each other safe simply by asking friends to drive safer. These surveys show just how effective students can be in helping friends to drive safer:In 2012, AT&T and Connect Safely conducted a survey of teen drivers and found:
  1. Respectful drivers don’t drive distracted. – Respect is a core value for many of us. Is there anything at all respectful about drivers texting, snapping or scrolling through music on our phones with passengers, or while sharing the road with others?  Respect includes the “ Golden Rule,” or treating others the way we want to be treated. A recent AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety survey found that drivers believed, as compared with 3 years earlier,  that the biggest problem on our highways was  distracted driving, 87.5%, compared with drunk and drugged driving, at about 55%.  When asked what the  most serious threat to their personal safety was, almost 97% said drivers texting or e-mailing. However, in the past 30 days, 44.9% of drivers had read a text message or email while driving, and 34.6% of drivers typed or sent a text message or email. Additional information about respect and distracted driving can be found at https://www.legalexaminer.com
  1. Distracted drivers can’t be defensive drivers – Distracted drivers are the leading highway safety concern for many of us. As drivers it is our prime responsibility to keep ourselves and our passengers safe. Defensive drivers anticipate potential hazards by scanning the road and leaving enough room between them and other cars to be able to avoid crashes when other drivers make mistakes. Defensive driving requires us to look at the road and not at our phones so that we can identify hazards and take measures to avoid crashes.  SPIDER, is an acronym for all that is necessary to be defensive drivers. https://www.enddd.org/distracted-driving-research/rethinking-defensive-driving-light-distracted-driving/

Prizes

There will be three winners for the video contest and five winners for the meme/GIF contest. Prizes for each are listed below.

High School (9th-12th grade) and College Entries

Video Contest Prizes

    • First Place – $5,000 AND $500 will be donated in the name of the winning students to a non-profit organization (IRS 501c3) chosen by the winning student/team.
    • Second Place – $2,500
    • Third Place – $1,000

Meme/GIF Contest Prizes

  • First Place – $2,500 AND $500 will be donated in the name of the winning students to a non-profit organization (IRS 501c3) chosen by the winning student/team.
  • Second Place – $1,000
  • Third Place – $500

Middle School Entries

  • One First Place Prize for Middle School-age entries (6th – 8th grade) – $250

Elementary School Entries

  • One First Place Prize for Elementary-age entries (Kindergarten-5th grade) – Amazon gift card for $100

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 so easy to do! Here is how to start a SADD chapter in your school.
  2. Submissions must be original, and not have been entered in any other contest or disseminated publicly before contest winners are announced in April of 2021. Submissions must not contain any copyrighted or protected materials, content or music. See Waiver and Submission Form.
  3. Videos must be less than one minute and memes/GIFs must be 10 seconds or less and must focus on one (or several) of the topics outlined above.
  4. Entries will be judged on adherence to requirements, specifically suggested topics, creativity and message.
  5. Submissions must be submitted and applicable forms completed no later than midnight April 30, 2021.
  6. After review of all entries, contest sponsors reserve the right in their sole discretion to determine whether prizes shall be awarded.

Judges

Judges will include:

Elizabeth Christie
Elizabeth-Christie-learLear Corporation, our incredible sponsor for this year’s contest, will have thousands of its employees view and judge all of the semi-finalists. Lear’s representative judge, Elizabeth Christie, will cast her vote reflecting the consensus of Lear employees.

Ryan McMahon
Ryan McMahonRyan McMahon is the Vice President of Insurance and Government Affairs at Cambridge Mobile Telematics (CMT), the world’s largest smartphone telematics provider, powering 65 programs around the globe with leading insurers, automotive manufacturers and mobile network operators. At CMT Ryan’s focus is on supporting the company’s external stakeholders to deliver on the mission of making the world’s roads and drivers safer. Prior to joining CMT, Ryan spent 15 years in the insurance industry.

Emily Stein
Emily SteinEmily Stein is the President of Safe Roads Alliance, a nonprofit in road safety that was founded in 2006. Emily entered the road safety field after her father was tragically killed by a distracted driver in 2011. Safe Roads is the publisher of The Parent’s Supervised Driving Program, a free resource for parents of teen drivers that is currently distributed in 28 states. A member of the Massachusetts Vision Zero Coalition, Safe Roads Alliance works with other transportation advocacy groups to fight for safer roads for everyone. They also partnered with EndDD.org to develop a program for elementary students called “Kids Speaking Up for Road Safety” which is ready to launch this spring! Emily is also an RN, and holds a Masters in Public Health.

Questions

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

Rules

The 2020 SADD/Lear Corporation and EndDD.org Video and Meme/GIF Contest is open to all college, high school, middle and elementary school students  from schools with SADD chapters.

SADD Membership

If your school does not have a SADD chapter start one! It’s easy to do, doesn’t cost anything and is a great addition to any school. Click here to learn how to form a SADD chapter in your high school and middle school.

Ownership of Submitted Videos and Memes/GIFs and Rights for Future Use by Contest Sponsors

By submitting videos and/or memes/GIFs, entrants unconditionally and irrevocably assign all rights and ownership, including copyrights, existing now or which may accrue in the future, to the contest sponsors and agree that contest sponsors may use the videos and memes/GIFs without limitation and in any fashion that sponsors choose, including but not limited to websites, in social media, educational presentations locally and nationally, promotional materials or for any other purpose and use desired by contest sponsors. Entrants also agree that contest sponsors, or their designees, may without limitation, edit, or modify the video or meme/GIF, including the title of same and advertise or publish the video or meme/GIF without entrant(s)’ approval and for no additional compensation beyond contest prizes.  Entrants will have full rights to use their submissions beginning five(5) days after contest winners are announced. Contest sponsors will provide attribution to entrants in a manner of their choosing in the event of their use.

Notification of Winners and Payment of Prizes

Winners will be notified in May 2020 by e-mail to the address used by entrants for their submissions. In past years some students submitted entries using an e-mail that was not frequently checked. Please submit and e-mail that you will use, or an e-mail for your faculty advisor so there will not be a delay in notifying winners.  If winning entrants are under the age of 18, or parents or legal guardians will be required to execute final releases before payment of prizes.

Video and Meme Requirements

The 2020 SADD/Lear Corporation and EndDD.org Video and Meme/GIF Contest

Originality of Submissions and Prohibition of Using Protected Materials or Music
By submitting videos and/or memes/GIFs entrants are representing that the submission is original and their own work-product, that none of the content, including music, is copyrighted and that content does not violate YouTube standards (http://www.youtube. com/t/community_guidelines and http://www.youtube.com/t/terms).

Approval of Actors: By submitting a video or meme/GIF entrants agree that all actors, or persons represented in the video or meme, did provide their agreement to participate, and  have provided their agreement for future use of their photograph, or likeness, by contest sponsors.

Technical Requirements

Videos must have a 640 x 480 resolution suitable for large screen projection. Videos not achieving suitable resolution may be disqualified.

Memes entries should be saved and sent to us in one of the following image formats: .jpg, .png or .gif files.

Technical Requirements

Individual or Team Submissions
Submissions may be made by individual students or as part of a team from schools with SADD chapters. Only one prize will be awarded for each winning submission no matter the number of team members. It is the responsibility of those submitting videos or memes/GIFs to designate at the time of submission the appropriate person or persons to whom payment should be made in the event the submission wins one of the contest prizes. Individuals or teams may submit a video and/or a meme/GIF and schools may have multiple submissions.

Submission of videos or memes/GIFs 
A link to the final video that is on YouTube must be submitted to [email protected] no later than May 18, 2020. Memes/GIFs must be sent as attachments to [email protected].  Submissions without executed forms will not be considered. Entrants may send a separate e-mail to [email protected] to confirm receipt of their entries. No entries may be posted with public access until five(5) days after contest winners are announced. Contest sponsors shall have the exclusive right to post and disseminate videos and memes for the first five(5) days after contest winners are announced. Thereafter entrants may publicly post videos and memes/GIFs.

The winners of the contest will be announced in May of 2020. When posting videos to YouTube, entrants must choose the “unlisted setting.”  No video or meme/GIF which was posted with public access or otherwise disseminated before five (5) days following announcement of contest winners are announced will be eligible for consideration and if videos or memes/GIFs are determined to have been posted in violation of these rules the entry may be disqualified.

Waiver and Submission Form

Fill out my online form.

video contest time left
Enter by April 30, 2021

Sample Video

If we care about others we will speak up when we see them driving distracted. Watch this video produced by a Pennsylvania 9th grade student.

Sponsors

sponsors