Glendowie College wins anti drink drive TV ad competition

22 October 2013

Glendowie College wins national anti drink drive TV commercial competition

Glendowie College’s hard-hitting 40-second entry, ‘Don’t be a Bystander’, is this year’s winner of the Blue Light Anti-Drink Drive ‘Create a TV Commercial’ Competition.

The College Is one of four schools to win cash prizes totalling $3500, which will be presented to the winners today (17 October), by Blue Light and its key sponsor AA Insurance.

“New Zealand has an exceptionally high rate of youth drink driving,” said Brendon Crompton, Blue Light National Manager. “Equally disturbing is the number of young people who travel as passengers with both peers and trusted adults who are intoxicated.

“The annual Blue Light Create a TV Commercial Competition is a fantastic way for young people to engage with serious topics,” he continued. “It also fits easily into a number of key curriculum areas because students are encouraged to utilise a mixture of drama, film, animation and graphics, while covering serious health and safety messaging.

“The calibre of entries for 2013 has been outstanding, using a mixture of animation and short film genres. The judges found it exceptionally hard to choose just one winning entry.”

The judging panel, made up of representatives from Blue Light, AA Insurance, and the NZ Police Association, commented that Glendowie College’s winning entry was a fantastic short sketch about a group of teenagers who let their intoxicated friend drive away from a party. The central character, Blake, finds out his girlfriend is absent from the party so decides to get in his car, and drive to see her. His friends see him leave, knowing he has been drinking, but do nothing to stop him. The film highlights the responsibility all young people have to protect their friends from making poor decisions, as well as the need for positive peer pressure.

This year’s winners are:
1st: Glendowie College, Auckland - ‘Don’t be a Bystander’
2nd: Otumoetai College, Bay of Plenty - ‘Untitled’
3rd: Fraser High School, Hamilton - ‘Let’s Split’

Most creative: Putaruru College, Waikato - ‘Once upon a time’

Entries from all the finalists can be seen by visiting http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCr-ILDOOsQAAXabcZwGvzdA or visit http://www.bluelight.co.nz/national-events.html

Next year the Blue Light Create a TV Commercial Competition will take on an anti-bullying theme and schools are encouraged to get involved. For more information on the 2014 competition email ruth@bluelight.co.nz or visit www.bluelight.co.nz/national-events

New Zealand Blue Light
New Zealand Blue Light is a registered charity and community policing youth programme that, for the past 30 years, has run programmes and activities for youth throughout New Zealand free from drugs, alcohol and violence.

Blue Light has a strong vision of empowering youth. It aims to reduce youth crime, build community partnerships, build young people’s self-esteem, enhance community safety as well as build positive youth and police partnerships. Blue Light New Zealand is a nationwide incorporated society, has a national executive committee, and operates 74 branches nationwide. Each branch is responsible for sourcing their own funding to facilitate and provide their own youth community programmes.

Blue Light is supported by police officers, who carry out Blue Light activities over and above their normal police duties, along with civilian volunteers. Those involved with Blue Light are passionate about youth and in particularly providing positive experiences for those who may otherwise not have an opportunity.

Although Blue Light is supported by the NZ Police Association, the two operate totally independently and Blue Light does not receive any funding from the NZ Police Association. Blue Light is thankful for the support of its corporate sponsor AA Insurance.

See www.bluelight.co.nz or visit www.facebook.com/nzbluelight

Blue Light originally began in Australia as a community policing initiative and remains very strong in all of the Australian States and is now active in the Solomon Islands, East Timor, Cook Islands, New Zealand and Scotland.

ENDS

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