Please share this PA Senate message and contest flier with the teens in your library:

Sponsored by the Senate of Pennsylvania with support from the members of the Drug and Alcohol Providers organization of Pennsylvania

Drug addiction had taken hold in every corner of our state, within every racial segment of society, and on every socio-economic level.  Gone are the days of a stereotypical heroin addict; today, they come from all walks of life, they are your teachers, your parents, your classmates, and yes, maybe even you.

The Pennsylvania Senate created a website, ACommonwealthCrisis.com, as one of the tools to assist Pennsylvanians to talk and learn about the ever growing heroin and opioid crisis which is taking lives of our citizens every day.  Experts agree, the best way to confront this crisis is to bring it out from behind closed doors  and talk about it so we can address it together. The website is a collection of information gathered from many different organizations.  We hope it helps to educate you or someone you may know.

We aren’t finished working on this issue; and we need your help.  Your State Senator wants to hear your voice!  Legislators often turn to experts to advise them and provide background on various policy issues when they are creating new laws.  As a student in Pennsylvania schools, you are in a unique situation.  On a daily basis you face the pressures of being a teen in the 21st Century.  You are an expert.  Therefore, we want you to share your thoughts and advise your legislator–talk to us!  Tell us how you think we can prevent students from becoming involved in drugs.  Share your ideas with us to help us create policies that work!

ENTRIES:
the contest is open to Pennsylvania students in Grades 6-12.  The contest will be judged in two categories:

Middle School: GRADES 6 – 8
1ST PLACE – $2500
2ND PLACE $1500  
3RD PLACE $1000

High School: GRADES 9 – 12
1ST PLACE – $2500
2ND PLACE $1500
3RD PLACE $1000

CONTEST RULES:
Our goal is to prevent further addiction; therefore, your original video entry must address the issue of preventing teens from starting drugs–including alcohol.

• Students may submit one video entry no longer than 5 You decide the time you need to get your point across.
• You may work alone or in groups of no more than five students. If working in a group, students must identify one primary contact as the team leader, however all participating students must be identified on the official registration form.
• Student entries may be submitted with or without an adult Adult advisors must be recognized on the entry registration.
• Entries must be submitted using the registration form available on line at http://www.acommonwealthcrisis.com/talk-to-your-state-senator/.
  Deadline for entry is December 10,
• All dialogue, video clips, production and editing must be original and may only contain copyrighted content if appropriately
• Entrants must credit all sources used to create the video documentary in the end credits of the video or in a separately submitted citation list.
• All students must be enrolled in either a public, private or home school
• All entries become the property of the Pennsylvania Entrants agree that submitting their video permits the Pennsylvania Senate to use, without any compensation, their names, likenesses and entries for promotional purposes. By submitting an entry, entrants represent that their entries constitute original works of creativity that do not violate the property rights of any other person, and grant the Pennsylvania Senate the right to exhibit, distribute, televise and otherwise use the entries in various media.

CONTEST AWARDS:
The Members of the Drug and Alcohol Service Providers Organization of Pennsylvania are providing $10,000 in prize money. Money will be awarded through the TAP 529 Account program in the PA Department of Treasury and will be deposited into an account in the winner(s) name.

Prizes will be awarded in each age category in the following manner:

• One Semi-finalist will be recognized from each participating state senatorial district for each of the Middle School and High School Home addresses will be utilized to determine a senatorial district. Semi-finalist videos may be posted on the senator’s website for public access. Address lookup for senatorial districts is available at:  http://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/legis/home/findyourlegislator/#address
• Winning videos may be posted on the Senate
• Winning videos may be made available to local news
• Finalists may be invited to the Senate chamber for recognition on the
• 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Place winners will be selected from each of the two (middle and high school) categories.
• If any or all of the 1st, 2nd, or 3rd Place winning videos are submitted by a group, the students whose names appear on the official entry form shall receive an equal share of the total prize money for that category deposited into a TAP 529 Account in their

Judging Criteria:

• Creativity
• Content
• Effectiveness of message delivery
• Did you follow directions?

Entries will be judged by an independent panel of judges, and will not include any Pennsylvania Senators. Immediate relatives of Senators and their staff are ineligible to participate.   Judges will be announced closer to the competition deadline.