Teens Invited to Fight Impaired Driving Through 5t

New York, Oct. 21, 2013 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- ( http://www.myprgenie.com ) -- The National Road Safety Foundation and Scholastic (NASDAQ: SCHL), the global children's publishing, education and media company, are looking for ideas from young people to help educate their peers about the risks of impaired driving and how to avoid being in a car driven by an impaired driver. Entries are now open for the 5th annual Drive2Life PSA Contest. The winner will receive a $1,000 prize and an all expenses-paid trip to New York to work with an Emmy Award-winning TV director to turn his or her idea into a public service message that will be broadcast nationwide next May during Global Youth Traffic Safety Month.

"Traffic crashes are the leading cause of death among U.S. teens, killing 5,000 every year and injuring tens of thousands more," said Michelle Anderson of The National Road Safety Foundation (NRSF), a non-profit group that creates driver safety programs distributed free to schools, police and traffic safety advocates. "Nearly a quarter of all fatal crashes involving a teen driver had alcohol impairment as a factor, and the number goes even higher when other forms of impairment such as drugs, medication and drowsiness are included. That is why we are encouraging young people to help us get the word out to their peers."

NRSF hopes to encourage young people to become more aware of impaired driving and to find ways to speak up to avoid being in a car with a driver who may be impaired. 

Students in grades 6 - 12 are invited to submit a PSA concept that addresses in 30 seconds ways to avoid being in a car driven by an impaired driver. Ideas may be in the form of scripts or storyboards. No videos will be accepted, and group entries are not accepted. For more information about the competition and for the entry form and complete rules visit www.nrsf.org/teenlane or www.scholastic.com/Drive2Life . Deadline for entries is Feb. 12, 2014. No purchase necessary and void where prohibited.

The creator of the winning PSA concept, judged by a panel of education and traffic safety experts and an award-winning film director, will receive a $1,000 prize and an all expenses-paid trip to New York City to work with the director to film and edit the idea into a professional PSA. Two runners-up in each grade category (grades 6-8, 9-12) will each receive $500.

The winning PSA will be broadcast in May on more than 220 TV stations nationwide on the nationally-syndicated weekly program "Teen Kids News." It will also receive widespread airings on newscasts and online. The winner will be profiled in Scholastic classroom magazines, which reach nearly 5 million students and 50,000 teachers.

Last year, more than 1,300 entries were received from students throughout the U.S. Olivia Yavorek, a 16-year old high school student from Canandaigua, N.Y., won for her 30-second spot about distracted driving.

For more than 50 years, The National Road Safety Foundation has created driver education programs for use in schools and by police, traffic safety agencies, youth advocacy groups and others. NRSF has programs on distracted driving, speed and aggression, drinking and driving, and drowsy driving. For more information or to download free programs, visit www.nrsf.org .

David Reich, , 212 573-6000