ESSAY CONTESTS www.TheCitizensWhoCare.org "Through My Eyes" Essay Contest III - Alcohol Background Winners All essays Brookings-Harbor (OR) High School seniors to write a non-fiction essay, anonymously or giving their name, about the negative impact of alcohol on their lives or those around them for April, 2008 (Alcohol Awareness Month). Some idea starters that are provided: How alcohol has affected my life? Whether it's scary or positive, feel free to share it. Remember to take it to the next level and tell us how it changed you. Are you dealing with peer pressure to drink alcohol, alcopops, jager bombs? How do you say no? Tell us more than just what you say or that you just walked away! Tell us what you do to avoid the pressure to try alcohol and how you handle yourself in a situation where you are offered alcohol. How you have helped a friend stay alcohol-free or how you have helped a friend to stop using alcohol. Are there specific ways you and your friends have avoided using alcohol. What do you know about the dangers of underage alcohol use, especially binge drinking? How often do you see pro-alcohol content in movies, in songs, on clothes or elsewhere? How do you guard yourself against these kinds of messages? How old were you if and when you drank your first beer or alcoholic beverage? What got you to try it? Do you consume any alcoholic substance as part of a religious ceremony or practice? Essay Details: Deadline March 3, 2008. Essay length between 350 and 500 words, typed, single spaced. Submit hard copy to teacher plus electronic copy to gordonclay@aol.com. E-mail addresses will not be used or retained. Judges: Winners were selected by the Words & Pictures Book Club & friends. Judges decision is final. Awards: Wild River Pizza Gift Certificates go to winners 2 through 9. Fred Meyer gift certificates go to the top 25 essays. The winner receives a check for $100 from Citizens Who Care. One of the top nine essays will be printed in each edition of The Curry Coastal Pilot newspaper during Alcohol Awareness Month, April, 2008. Booklets: Each year, the top 25 essays appear at www.TheCitizensWhoCare.org and are printed in booklet form and available at Words & Pictures in Brookings, OR for $5.00 with 100% of the procedes going toward future contests. 0% goes toward overhead. What is the purpose of the project? To get the students involved in alcohol awareness and to let the community see the issue from their perspective. And to encourage the police and judges to take a "No tolerance" stance and dole out serious consequences to retailers, adults and minors who violate the liquor laws. Why is it needed? Studies show that a great many minors drink without their parent's knowledge. And, the public doesn't get to see the impact alcohol has on them from their perspective. It's time to listen. What problems will it address? The generation gap of knowledge, and the magnitude and the seriousness of the growing alcohol problem in Brookings-Harbor High School and Azalea Middle school. How will you know the task was successful? When the community as a whole stops saying, "We don't have an alcohol or drug problem" until they actually aren't problems anymore. Sponsors: an anonymous group of The Citizens Who Care Contact Us for information regarding future Contests. ©2008, www.TheCitizensWhoCare.org/brookings/throughmyeyes2.html