The Courageous Persuaders competition encourages high school students to create 30-second television commercials on the dangers of underage drinking and texting while driving. Middle school classrooms review and judge the videos, and help determine the scholarship winners.  Participants learn how to create their own video, are honored at an awards celebration, and, most importantly, are making a difference in raising awareness and changing attitudes towards these dangerous issues facing young adults.

In 2007, the Detroit Auto Dealers Association (DADA) and its Executive Director, Rod Alberts, officially adopted Courageous Persuaders and expanded it to a nationwide program.  A special thanks to the late Judge Jim Martone and John Barcyk for coming up with the idea and proposing the opportunity to DADA to further develop.

In 2008, Michigan’s Secretary of State (SOS) officially announced the SOS’s partnership with Courageous Persuaders.  For the past 10 years, top entries in the innovative Courageous Persuaders distractive driving campaign aimed at teens have won airtime in SOS offices across Michigan.

In 2018, the DADA received 632 video submissions from 917 high school participants representing 225 participating high schools from 40 different states including British Columbia. There were 1,100 middle school evaluators reviewing these videos. There were 29,312 YouTube views of these videos from April 1 – April 28. The 5 top geographic locations viewing were the United States, India, Canada, Germany and United Kingdom.

At the 2018 Courageous Persuaders Ceremony on May 2nd at Emagine Theatre in Royal Oak, MI, 16 awards were presented along with over $30,000 in scholarships.  The overall grand prize-winning commercial airs on Ch. 2 in Detroit as a public service announcement.  This year, at our Courageous Persuaders “Academy Awards”, there were over 250 students, faculty and parents in attendance to watch these amazing videos on the big screen and see the winners announced.

Your commercial must be 30 seconds long or less, and your message must be about the dangers of underage drinking or the dangers of texting while driving. Students can enter separate videos in both categories. Middle School classrooms are your target audience. The primary objective is to raise awareness and change attitudes about the dangers of underage drinking among high school students. A secondary objective is to expose middle school students to positive role models − high school students taking a stand on this deadly issue.

Videos will be judged on originality, creativity and persuasiveness. Middle School Evaluators judge videos. High School winners will be announced at the Courageous Persuaders Awards Celebration. Questionnaires administered to middle school students gauge the persuasiveness of the commercials produced by high schoolers. Ratings on these questionnaires determine the winners.

Website: https://courageouspersuaders.com/

Managing Organization: Detroit Auto Dealers Association (DADA)

Contact:
Sandy Herp
sherp@dada.org
248.283.5138

Eligibility:
High school students nationally can participate; emphasis is placed on concept and the message, not on production values. Students are encouraged to use whatever video equipment is available to them. Teachers and principals, school audio/video departments, parent and community leaders are urged to share their equipment and lend local support by promoting the program as a very unique scholarship competition that is fun to participate in and has a powerful impact on a serious problem.

The Courageous Persuaders competition encourages high school students to create 30-second television commercials on the dangers of underage drinking and texting while driving. Middle school classrooms review and judge the videos, and help determine the scholarship winners.  Participants learn how to create their own video, are honored at an awards celebration, and, most importantly, are making a difference in raising awareness and changing attitudes towards these dangerous issues facing young adults.

In 2007, the Detroit Auto Dealers Association (DADA) and its Executive Director, Rod Alberts, officially adopted Courageous Persuaders and expanded it to a nationwide program.  A special thanks to the late Judge Jim Martone and John Barcyk for coming up with the idea and proposing the opportunity to DADA to further develop.

In 2008, Michigan’s Secretary of State (SOS) officially announced the SOS’s partnership with Courageous Persuaders.  For the past 10 years, top entries in the innovative Courageous Persuaders distractive driving campaign aimed at teens have won airtime in SOS offices across Michigan.

In 2018, the DADA received 632 video submissions from 917 high school participants representing 225 participating high schools from 40 different states including British Columbia. There were 1,100 middle school evaluators reviewing these videos. There were 29,312 YouTube views of these videos from April 1 – April 28. The 5 top geographic locations viewing were the United States, India, Canada, Germany and United Kingdom.

At the 2018 Courageous Persuaders Ceremony on May 2nd at Emagine Theatre in Royal Oak, MI, 16 awards were presented along with over $30,000 in scholarships.  The overall grand prize-winning commercial airs on Ch. 2 in Detroit as a public service announcement.  This year, at our Courageous Persuaders “Academy Awards”, there were over 250 students, faculty and parents in attendance to watch these amazing videos on the big screen and see the winners announced.

Your commercial must be 30 seconds long or less, and your message must be about the dangers of underage drinking or the dangers of texting while driving. Students can enter separate videos in both categories. Middle School classrooms are your target audience. The primary objective is to raise awareness and change attitudes about the dangers of underage drinking among high school students. A secondary objective is to expose middle school students to positive role models − high school students taking a stand on this deadly issue.

Videos will be judged on originality, creativity and persuasiveness. Middle School Evaluators judge videos. High School winners will be announced at the Courageous Persuaders Awards Celebration. Questionnaires administered to middle school students gauge the persuasiveness of the commercials produced by high schoolers. Ratings on these questionnaires determine the winners.

Website: https://courageouspersuaders.com/

Managing Organization: Detroit Auto Dealers Association (DADA)

Contact:
Sandy Herp
sherp@dada.org
248.283.5138

Eligibility:
High school students nationally can participate; emphasis is placed on concept and the message, not on production values. Students are encouraged to use whatever video equipment is available to them. Teachers and principals, school audio/video departments, parent and community leaders are urged to share their equipment and lend local support by promoting the program as a very unique scholarship competition that is fun to participate in and has a powerful impact on a serious problem.