Community Local Youth Win National Anti-Tobacco Video Contest

BRADENTON  – Manatee County youth won the grand prize in a national video contest about the dangers of tobacco. The nationwide contest, which was sponsored by U.S. Surgeon General Regina Benjamin's Office, asked youth and young adults to produce original videos based on the theme, ”Tobacco – I’m Not Buying It.“

The video by Dantreal Waiters and the rest of the SOZO rap group from Bradenton, Fla., won the $1,000 grand prize in the 13-17 age group. The youth rapped about the dangers of tobacco, its effect on youth and why they’re not buying it.

”It’s been amazing just to see these kids really gravitate to something positive and use their gifts to reach other teenagers to spread a message not to use tobacco products,“ said the group’s mentor Dwayne Parker, also known as Bishop Freeze. ”It’s been an honor to have the kids who I mentor win this contest and see them be good role models to other kids their age.“

The SOZO (which means salvation in Greek) rap group is part of Manatee Youth for Christ (YFC), an after-school mentoring program. Dantreal Waiters, 14, is featured rapping in the music video along with Glenn Franklin, 14; Johnny Cintron, 14; Christian Cintron, 13; and Danique Waiters, 15. The teens are all students at Harllee Middle School.

”It’s important for them [teens] to know cigarettes can ruin your whole life,“ said Glenn. ”It lowers your health and you can die from it. It’s not cool to smoke.“

After a period of public voting, winners of the "Tobacco – I'm Not Buying It" video contest were selected from the top 10 entries by a panel of tobacco prevention and control experts, and were announced on May 30. The nine winning videos include four from Florida. The grand prize winning video in the Spanish category was submitted by Sarah Skipper, Karolina Almasi, Taylor Crews, Natalie Curtis, and Malorie McKinnon from the University of Florida. Other winners from Florida include Taylor Blackwell from Jupiter, who was the first runner-up in the 13-17 age group, and Crystal Blair from Miami, who was the third runner-up in the 18-25 age group.

”The fact that so many of the winning videos are from our state is a sign that Florida’s youth and young adults understand the real dangers of tobacco and are making the right choices by choosing to be tobacco free,“ said Kristina Wiggins, Deputy Secretary of the Florida Department of Health. ”These four amazing videos represent our state’s next generation taking a strong stance against tobacco.“

The contest was launched in conjunction with the Surgeon General’s Report, ”Preventing Tobacco Use among Youth and Young Adults,“ released in March. The report was the first comprehensive look at youth and young adult tobacco use in nearly two decades. The report underscores the critical need to prevent tobacco use to help combat the pervasive problem of tobacco use in the U.S. Nearly nine out of 10 smokers start by age 18, and 99 percent start by age 26.

In Florida, substantial progress has been made in tobacco prevention and the state is committed to continued efforts ahead, with the Florida Department of Health’s Tobacco Free Florida campaign as the centerpiece. Since Tobacco Free Florida launched in 2007, 17.9 percent fewer high school students and 42.6 percent fewer middle school students in the state are current cigarette smokers. Florida's high school smoking rate, which was at 11.9 percent in 2011, is below the national average.

Despite the progress made, tobacco use remains the number one preventable cause of death and disease. Thousands of youth in Florida become new cigarette smokers each year, creating a new generation of lifelong nicotine addicts and of life-threatening diseases. If this continues, more than 300,000 Florida children will ultimately die prematurely from their own smoking or secondhand smoke.

For more information on the Surgeon General’s Video Contest for Youth and Young Adults and winning videos, please visit http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statistics/sgr/2012/contest/.