High School Students Win Scholarships at Fifth Annual Courageous Persuaders Awards

High School Students Win Scholarships at Fifth Annual Courageous Persuaders Awards

Winning spot to be made into an anti-underage drinking PSA for television

BIRMINGHAM, Mich., May 13 /PRNewswire/ -- Judge Michael A. Martone, nationally recognized advocate against underage drinking, and global advertising agency McCann Erickson's Detroit office announced the winners of the fifth annual Courageous Persuaders competition at an awards banquet Thursday, May 12, at the San Marino Club in Troy, Mich. The annual competition encourages high school kids to create a 30-second television commercial warning kids about the dangers of drinking alcohol.

The Grand Prize-winning spot, titled "Choices," was created by Keith Wilson from Dearborn High School in Dearborn, Mich., and will air on television stations this summer. He received $3,000 in scholarship money and the Gold Courage trophy. All this year's winning spots, including the Grand Prize winner "Choices," can be viewed at http://www.couragefirst.com/ .

Other winning students included the following who also received scholarships and Courage Award trophies:

* First Place, $1,500 - "Caught" by William Peterson (Lake Orion High School in Lake Orion, Mich.)

* Second Place, $1,000 - "Too Young to Die" by Matt Theisen (Dearborn High School in Dearborn, Mich.)

* Third Place, $500 - "Losing a Friend" by Michael Delavan (Kimball High School in Royal Oak, Mich.)

In addition, three special awards funded by the Adcraft Club of Detroit and USA Today were also presented to the following individuals:

* Adcrafter Award, $2,000 - presented to the commercial that conveyed factual information about the dangers of alcohol use in the most persuasive and creative manner: "Already Part of the Crowd" by Stephen Joseph (Dearborn High School in Dearborn, Mich.)

* USA Today Award, $1,000 - chosen by the USA Today Detroit staff from among the most persuasive commercials, as judged by the middle-school students: "Delayed Reaction" by Douglas Velliquette (Dondero High School in Royal Oak, Mich.)

* USA Today Courageous Leader Award - presented to Dr. Donna Learmont of Lahser High School in Bloomfield Hills, Mich., who was instrumental in promoting the scholarship program in her school and her community

All the award winners will also be featured in an ad that will run nationally in USA Today this summer.

Winners were selected through several rounds of judging. During the first round, a panel of advertising professionals from McCann Erickson's Detroit office and board members of Courage First viewed the entries and identified the top contenders. Those entries were then reviewed by middle school students. The students completed questionnaires developed by McCann to measure which ideas were the most persuasive. Those results determined the winners.

"The results revealed the incredible impact of the commercials," said Courageous Persuaders co-founder John Barczyk, senior vice president and group account director at McCann Erickson. "After a single viewing of the winning commercials, middle school students exhibited nearly 30 percent greater sensitivity. These are numbers any marketer would be proud of."

Courageous Persuaders also announced at the award banquet that a prestigious international advertising competition, the New York Festivals, has signed on to donate an additional $2,000 Courageous Persuaders scholarship in 2006. The scholarship competition will be open to any high school student in the United States. The New York Festivals will also sponsor this year's Grand Prize-winning student Keith Wilson at their annual awards banquet in New York City in January 2006.

The gala awards-style banquet, produced by McCann Erickson's Detroit office, was hosted for the fifth consecutive year by local television personality Huel Perkins from WJBK FOX2. It featured red carpet arrival interviews and entertainment, and was sponsored by car dealer and philanthropist Hoot McInerney.

To view the winning commercials and enter next year's competition, visit the http://www.couragefirst.com/ Web site, which McCann Erickson's Detroit office designed, or contact the Courage First office at (248) 526-6700. Community Media Network will air the entire awards banquet every Saturday in June at 2 p.m. on Channel 52 (Comcast) and 18 (Wide Open West) in Ferndale, Pleasant Ridge, Huntington Woods, Berkley, Royal Oak, Clawson, Troy, Rochester, Rochester Hills, Auburn Hills and Oakland Township.

Judge Michael A. Martone, a nationally recognized advocate against underage drinking, leads the Courage First Foundation. In addition to Courageous Persuaders, Courage First has brought the Courageous Decisions program to more than 150,000 middle school, high school and college students in 30 states around the nation. Courageous Decisions is a presentation where Judge Martone engages students in an interactive dialogue using poignant video vignettes illustrating the catastrophic results which occur when people make wrong decisions and abuse alcohol.

Courageous Persuaders is funded in part by a grant from the Michigan Office of Highway Safety Planning and the U.S. Department of Transportation.

About McCann Erickson

McCann Erickson's Detroit office creates advertising and integrated marketing communications programs for Buick Motor Division; General Motors Corporation (Corporate Advertising); Chevrolet (Global Brand Advertising); Delphi; Honeywell Consumer Product Group's Prestone, FRAM and Autolite divisions; Agilent Technologies; Capital One and a variety of other clients. McCann Worldgroup is one of the world's largest marketing communications companies, with operations in 131 countries. It is part of the Interpublic Group of Companies, Inc. (NYSE:IPG).

Source: Courageous Persuaders

CONTACT: Jennifer Flowers of McCann Erickson (Detroit), +1-248-203-8260;
or Katherine Maggi of Courage First, +1-248-526-6700

Web site: http://www.couragefirst.com/

NOTE TO EDITORS: To view copies of the winning spots, contact Jennifer Flowers at +1-248-203-8260.

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