The United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the DEA Educational Foundation, and Discovery Education announced today the launch of the third annual Operation Prevention Video Challenge (opens in new tab) – a peer-to-peer platform for communicating messages about the dangers of opioid misuse.
The video challenge encourages teens to create a 30-60 second original public service announcement that alerts other students about the dangers of prescription opioid misuse and heroin use. The challenge aims to inspire teens to research the opioid epidemic, identify its widespread impact on the country and the substances’ harmful effects on the body, and start a social movement that encourages authentic dialogue about this critical issue. The top 10 finalist videos will be uploaded to operationprevention.com (opens in new tab) for a public vote to determine the People’s Choice winner. Winning PSAs will be featured on-air, across Discovery Education and DEA digital platforms, and on other social media platforms.
Prizes for winning submissions include:
- 1st place: $10,000;
- 2nd place: $5,000;
- 3rd place: $1,000; and
- People’s Choice: A VIP trip to Quantico, Virginia, for a tour of DEA training.
Last year’s winning PSA, titled Waiting to Die (opens in new tab) by Porter Christensen of Saint George, UT, was one of the hundreds of original submissions the challenge received. To view entries from finalists and winners of the previous Operation Prevention Video Challenges, visit operationprevention.com/competition/video/archives/2018 (opens in new tab).
The Operation Prevention Video Challenge opens today and will close on March 6, 2019. Public voting for the People’s Choice winner will take place April 11-25, 2019. United States high school students, ages 13 and older, can register and find more information about the challenge here (opens in new tab).
Operation Prevention resources are free and are available at operationprevention.com (opens in new tab).