First Lady Jenny Sanford Announces February Healthy SC School Video Contest Results

COLUMBIA, SC (02/29/2008)(readMedia)-- South Carolina fans judging in the Healthy SC School Video Contest chose “The Perils of Smoking” by Jason Smith as February’s winner and “Alcohol Addiction,” also by Jason Smith, as the runner up. This is the first time in the entire Healthy SC contest for a student to win twice.

Jason Smith is a senior at Project Challenge, an academic and visual/performing arts program for gifted students, in Anderson School District Five. “The Perils of Smoking” will receive the #1 prize of $3,500. His second video, “Alcohol Addiction,” was ranked #2 and will receive $1,500. Project Challenge will receive $1,000 worth of athletic equipment of its choice, and Jason’s class will receive a healthy Subway lunch.

“The Perils of Smoking” is a mix of both comedy and drama. The minute long film is about a student who peer pressures his friend to smoke by telling him that nothing bad will happen. The friend tries smoking and is followed by bad fortune: he is chased by bees and hit by a car.

The video ends with an important and straightforward message, “Okay, so maybe if you smoke you won’t get hit by a car, or even chased by bees. But smoking is the number one cause of preventable disease and death in the United States. Cigarette smoking causes 87% of lung cancer deaths. Smokers are more likely to have high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and suffer from a stroke. Studies have shown that smokers are twice as likely to suffer from depression. A smoker’s risk of dying from sudden cardiac arrest is two to four times greater than a nonsmoker’s.”

“Alcohol Addiction” is about the risks of drinking alcohol. In the video, Jason says that the only sure way to never become is addicted, is to never drink in the first place.

Blue Cross Blue Shield of SC, Coca-Cola Bottling Company Consolidated and Wal-Mart are the gold sponsors of February’s contest. Subway, Palmetto Project, and DHEC are also sponsors.

OurStage, the only purely democratic online competition where the fans decide who's the best in emerging music, film and video, hosted the contest on a special channel created solely for the Healthy SC School Video Contest. OurStage’s unique judging engine ensures that each piece is judged fairly by the viewers-no rigging and no cheating.

To view the winning videos of the monthly contests and the Special Prize winners, visit www.healthysc.gov and click on the “School Video Contest Archive” tab.

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The Healthy SC Challenge is an outcome-based, cooperative effort aimed at encouraging individuals, communities and organizations across the state to show shared responsibility in developing innovative ways to improve the health of South Carolina's citizens. For more information about the Healthy SC Challenge, please visit www.healthysc.gov , or call 803-737-4772.