NEW YORK, Jan. 17, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, the Ad
Council and Project Yellow Light announced the opening of the
eighth annual Project Yellow Light scholarship competition. The
contest invites high school and college students nationwide to
create a TV, radio or billboard PSA to educate their peers about
the dangers of distracted driving, specifically texting and
driving. Submissions are due March 1
(billboard) and April 1 (radio and
video), and winners receive scholarship funding and the opportunity
for national media exposure for their winning entries.
This year, AT&T's It Can
Wait and Apparent Insurance are supporting the
initiative, joining longstanding funding, media distribution and
issue expertise partners CBS 2 New York, Clear Channel Outdoor
(CCO), iHeartMedia, the National Highway Traffic Safety
Administration (NHTSA) and the National Organizations for Youth
Safety (NOYS). CBS 2 New York has also created a TV spot to promote
the competition, featuring anchor Alex
Denis, which can be viewed here.
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.
"We're excited to be entering our eighth year of this national
competition with our amazing partners; and even more so by the
addition of two noteworthy new alliances - AT&T's It
Can Wait and Apparent
Insurance," said Julie Garner,
founder of Project Yellow Light. "These relationships will
significantly amplify our reach and help us save more lives."
Key facts about Project Yellow Light 2019:
- Billboard submissions are due March
1; radio and video submissions are due April 1
- High school juniors, seniors, and undergraduate college
students are eligible to apply
- All winners receive scholarship money; first-place winners are
awarded $5,000 for video and
$2,000 for billboard and radio
- Winning submissions may be turned into public service
advertisements (PSAs) and distributed nationwide on iHeartMedia
broadcast radio stations, Clear Channel Outdoor billboards, and
approximately 1,600 TV stations.
For full submission guidelines and official rules, visit
ProjectYellowLight.com.
Last year, the contest received more than 1,600 submissions from
49 states and Washington, D.C. The
winning TV PSAs can be viewed online here.
Since 2011, Project Yellow Light has partnered with the Ad
Council to turn the winning student submissions into PSAs that
receive nationwide exposure through 1,600 TV stations, across
iHeartRadio broadcast radio stations and over 1,200 Clear Channel
Outdoor digital billboards.
"Project Yellow Light makes it possible for young people to
develop creative that reaches their peers with this critical
message on a national scale," said Lisa
Sherman, President and CEO of the Ad Council. "We're
thrilled to welcome AT&T's It Can
Wait and Apparent Insurance to this extraordinary
coalition."
"Since 2010, our It Can
Wait program has raised awareness of the dangers of
smartphone use while driving and helped curb these dangerous
habits," said Ryan Luckey, AVP of
Corporate Brand Marketing at AT&T. "Project Yellow Light shares
this commitment and we look forward to joining and supporting those
who are using their voice to combat distracted driving."
"Apparent Insurance is excited to be a sponsor of the 2019
Project Yellow Light scholarship competition," said Colleen Benzin, Managing Director of Apparent
Insurance. "As an auto insurer designed for parents, by
parents, we support the Project Yellow Light mission to engage
young adults about the dangers of distracted driving. Our hope is
that this partnership leads to safer drivers and safer roads for
the families we serve."
"People who use cellphones more frequently while driving may be
riskier drivers in other respects," said Heidi King, NHTSA Deputy Administrator.
"Multiple studies find that drivers increase their risk of a crash
when they choose to engage in distracting activities that require
them to take their eyes off the road, such as using a handheld cell
phone, reading or writing, or using touchscreen menus on a vehicle
instrument pane. Some studies find that drivers engage in some type
of distracting activity more than 50 percent of the time they are
driving."
Data Source:
https://crashstats.nhtsa.dot.gov/Api/Public/ViewPublication/812603
About Project Yellow Light
Project Yellow Light
is a film, billboard and radio scholarship competition in which
high school and college students create compelling stories
persuading their peers to develop safe driving habits. This project
gives students a voice and a role in preventing car crashes — the
number one killer 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.
About the Ad Council
The Ad Council is a nonprofit
organization with a rich history of marshaling volunteer talent
from the advertising and media industries to deliver crucial
messages to the American public. Having produced literally
thousands of PSA campaigns addressing the most pressing social
issues of the day, the Ad Council has effected, and continues to
effect, tremendous positive change by raising awareness, inspiring
action and saving lives. 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.
About AT&T
We help family, friends and neighbors connect in meaningful ways
every day. From the first phone call 140+ years ago to mobile video
streaming, we innovate to improve lives. We have the best network
according to America's biggest test.** We're building FirstNet just
for first responders and creating next-generation mobile 5G. With
DIRECTV and DIRECTV NOW, we deliver entertainment people love to
talk about. Our smart, highly secure solutions serve over 3 million
global businesses – nearly all of the Fortune 1000. And worldwide,
our spirit of service drives employees to give back to their
communities.
AT&T Communications is part of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T). Learn
more at att.com/CommunicationsNews.
AT&T products and services are provided or offered by
subsidiaries and affiliates of AT&T Inc. under the AT&T
brand and not by AT&T Inc. Additional information about
AT&T products and services is available at about.att.com.
Follow our news on Twitter at @ATT, on Facebook at
facebook.com/att and on YouTube at youtube.com/att.
© 2018 AT&T Intellectual Property. All rights reserved.
AT&T, the Globe logo and other marks are trademarks and service
marks of AT&T Intellectual Property and/or AT&T affiliated
companies. All other marks contained herein are the property of
their respective owners. **Based on GWS OneScore Sept. 2018. Excludes crowd sourced studies.
About CBS 2 NY
WCBS-TV and WLNY-TV are part of CBS
Television Stations group, a division of CBS Corporation and one of
the largest network-owned station groups in the country. The
combined strengths of CBS 2 and WLNY 10/55 provide a strong
platform for serving the entire tri-state area.
About Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings, Inc.
Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: CCO) is one of the
world's largest outdoor advertising companies with over 450,000
displays in 31 countries across Asia, Europe,
Latin America and North America. Reaching millions of people
monthly, including consumers in 44 of the top 50 U.S. markets,
Clear Channel Outdoor enables advertisers to engage with consumers
through innovative advertising solutions. Clear Channel Outdoor is
pioneering the integration of out-of-home with mobile and social
platforms, and the company's digital platform includes more than
1,200 digital billboards across 28 markets in the U.S. and more
than 13,000 digital displays in international markets. More
information is available
at http://www.clearchanneloutdoor.com.
About Apparent Insurance
Apparent Insurance is making
the lives of parents and families easier and safer by delivering a
better auto insurance experience. Apparent's coverage protects
families throughout life's stages with features, benefits,
discounts, and services that are tailored to the lives of all
parents. Fully backed and secured by parent company, Admiral Group,
which oversees over 6 million customers across 7 countries,
Apparent Insurance is currently available to consumers across the
state of Texas, with additional
states being announced soon. Learn more about Apparent Insurance at
http://www.apparentinsurance.com and connect on Facebook, Twitter,
and Instagram at @ApparentInsurance.
About iHeartMedia
iHeartMedia is the number one audio
company in the United States,
reaching nine out of 10 Americans every month – and with its
quarter of a billion monthly listeners, has a greater reach than
any other media company in the U.S. The company's leadership
position in audio extends across multiple platforms including 850
live broadcast stations; streaming music, radio and on demand via
its iHeartRadio digital service available across more than 250
platforms and 2,000 devices including smart speakers, digital auto
dashes, tablets, wearables, smartphones, virtual assistants, TVs
and gaming consoles; through its influencers; social; branded
iconic live music events; and podcasts as the #1 commercial podcast
publisher globally. iHeartMedia also leads the audio industry in
analytics and attribution technology for its marketing partners,
using data from its massive consumer base. iHeartMedia is a
division of iHeartMedia, Inc. (PINK: IHRTQ).
Visit iHeartMedia.com for more company
information.
About the National Organizations for Youth
Safety
NOYS was originally founded in 1995 as the Traffic Safety
Collaboration supported by funding from government agencies,
including the Department of Transportation. In 2005, NOYS became a
501(c)(3) organization and incorporated as National Organizations
for Youth Safety. With over 100 organizational members -
youth-serving nonprofits, businesses and government agencies, NOYS
works collectively to address the most prevalent causes of injury
and death among teens and young adults in the US. Learn more
at www.NOYS.org.
About NHTSA
For more than four decades, 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 safety belts and child safety seats; helping
states and local communities address the threat of distracted,
drunk and drug-impaired drivers; regulating 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.
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SOURCE Clear Channel Outdoor; Ad Council