2024 ASIRT Road Safety PSA Contest - Submit Video by October 6, 2024

Who can enter?

Montgomery County Public School middle school and high school students (grades 6-12) 

Students may work independently or in a small team of no more than three.

What is a PSA?

PSA stands for Public Service Announcement. PSAs serve to raise attention and awareness of an issue in effort to change behavior. In this instance, a PSA on road safety is intended to help save lives and prevent injuries. PSAs may include live action dramatizations, animations, and video and audio clips. PSAs are not slide show presentations (like PowerPoint).

Contest Timeline

The contest will be open from Sunday, September 1 -Sunday, October 6, 2024 at 11:59 p.m.

PSA Message

“Step Up For Road Safety” PSA videos should inspire or help road users make safe road choices. The goal is to have zero injuries or deaths on the roads. 

Things to consider & include

• Road safety impacts pedestrians, drivers, passengers, cyclists, and scooter riders.

• How can people keep themselves and others safe on the roads?

• This PSA should influence thinking, action, and change behaviors in order to decrease injuries or deaths.

• PSAs should highlight at least one important road safety issue such as texting while driving or walking, drink driving, not wearing seatbelts or helmets, etc.

• Remember to discuss the consent section on the submission form with your parent or guardian and provide their contact information. 

Audience for PSA

While everyone can learn from the PSA and change their behaviors to be safer, your video should be geared toward middle and high school students.

Video Recording Requirements and Submission Format

Quality videos must:

1. Be between 45 seconds and one minute in length describing a road safety issue.

2. Be submitted in the following formats AND that the link is “Accessible to Anyone:”

• YouTube link 

• .MOV

• .MP4 format

*****Videos must be “accessible to anyone.” 

***** Do NOT use your MCPS Google account as it will not be viewable to all and cannot be reviewed for SSL credit or eligible for the PSA contest prizes. Please upload to a personal Google Drive, Dropbox, YouTube, or similar program and a link must be provided below. You will see instructions on how to upload.*****

3. Be original student work created on or after September 1, 2024.

4. Depict the importance of road safety and can include the message “Step Up for Road Safety.”

5. Show evidence of research (sharing facts on the issue(s), data on impact, safety precautions, etc.) and be edited for proper spelling and grammar. 

6. For voiceovers and text: Use the term “crash” instead of “accident.” Crashes are preventable while accidents imply no one is responsible for what happens. Be sure to speak slowly and clearly.

7. Show cyclists wearing helmets and drivers and passengers wearing seat belts if your video includes these examples.

8. Include interesting pictures, graphics, or video examples.

9. Include one of the following ASIRT logos:

ASIRT logo with vertical text

ASIRT logo with horizontal text
ASIRT logo without text

10. Not include offensive or illegal content.

11. Not include copyrighted, trademarked or branded content. If including music, it must be from a copyright-free resource.*

12. Close with a slide or document that identifies the name, grade, and school of all video creators. Reminder: You can create your own PSA video or work in a team of no more than 3 people.

*Entrants are prohibited from using copyrighted materials and are encouraged to visit copyright-free music libraries or work with a school or friends’ band or chorus if any background music is needed. 

SSL Expectations

In order to earn the full 10 SSL hours, the submission must:

• Submit a PSA video that reflects ALL of the requirements listed above.

• Identify the name, grade, and school of all video creators. 

Reminder: You can create your own PSA video or work in a team of no more than 3 people.

The ASIRT team will review all submissions and identify those who have met all of the submission requirements for SSL credit. 

SSL hours will be applied to SSL records by November 30. This allows the ASIRT team to review each for the contest and for SSL credit. This also allows MCPS to apply the awarded hours to the student SSL record.

2023 Winning Videos

Middle School Winners:
https://youtu.be/QnlorK-bjaU?si=MlZbnGEhTQ1w-ogK
https://youtu.be/TfHebTqMMzE?si=KPW-830Gp6C29jKi

High School Winners:
https://youtu.be/ng5Hfj0gcy0?si=daEpsZKfaC2k2CCS
https://youtu.be/TfHebTqMMzE?si=KPW-830Gp6C29jKi

Where do I submit?

To submit an entry:https://bit.ly/ASIRT2024PSA 

This form will close on Sunday, October 6, 2024 at 11:59 p.m. 

Before submitting please ensure your video fits all requirements mentioned above.

(YouTube link, .MOV, .MP4 format)*Videos must be “accessible to anyone." 

*****Do NOT use your MCPS Google account as it will not be viewable to all and cannot be reviewed for SSL credit or eligible for the PSA contest prizes. Please uploaded to a personal Google Drive, Dropbox, YouTube, or similar program and a link must be provided below. You will see instructions on how to upload.*****

Youtube:

Sign into your Youtube account.

In the top right-hand corner, click the video camera icon and then choose Upload video.

The video upload page should appear. Under "Select files to upload," click and choose "Public".

Click Publish.

Google Drive (Personal Google ONLY; do NOT use your MCPS Google account):

On your computer, go to drive.google.com.

Open or create a folder.

To upload videos, drag them into the Google Drive folder.

Right click on the now uploaded video file, click "Get shareable link", and copy and paste the link below.

** PLEASE MAKE SURE THE VIDEO CAN BE VIEWED BY OUTSIDE PARTIES.**

** IT IS NOT POSSIBLE TO SHARE WITH OUTSIDE PARTIES FROM AN MCPS STUDENT ACCOUNT SO PLEASE USE ANOTHER ACCOUNT**

Dropbox:

Sign in to dropbox.com.

Click the upload icon.

The Upload button

In the popup, click Choose File and then select the video on your computer that you’d like to add to Dropbox. Click Start Upload.

Hover your cursor over the file or folder you'd like to share and click Share when it appears.

If a link hasn't been created, click Create a link. If a link was already created, click Copy link.

The link will be copied to your clipboard. You can then paste it in the question below.

Prizes

Prizes will be awarded for middle and high school categories.

1st prize   $125 Amazon gift card (individual or to be divided among team members)
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