Free Our Sports™ Youth Film Festival Video Contest Launched

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For Immediate Release      
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SAN FRANCISCO, CA (January 28, 2013) – Alcohol Justice launched its fifth annual youth video contest today to expose and eliminate alcohol advertising, sponsorships, branding and promotions from every sport, from college games to the NFL Championship, from the World Series to the World Cup and Olympics.
 
“Big Alcohol doesn’t care about the health of youth – they care about youth seeing alcohol ads,” stated Bruce Lee Livingston, Executive Director/CEO Alcohol Justice. “We want to free sports from Anheuser-Busch and MillerCoors spending half a billion dollars a year advertising to youth.”

The Free Our Sports^TM 2013 Youth Film Festival gives young people a channel to communicate their opposition as members of a growing digital constituency determined to end the toxic social norm that binds alcohol to sports.
 
The contest is open to kids 10-20 years old. It challenges them to create entertaining 30 seconds to 2 minutes long ads that counter the iconic and exploitative alcohol ads that litter sporting events of all kinds, worldwide. It further challenges participants to promote their videos through their social networks encouraging viewers to Take Action.
 
“This years’ contest turns every video entry into an action alert,” stated Michael Scippa, Public Affairs Director at Alcohol Justice, and Director of the Free Our Sportsä 2013 Youth Film Festival. “The action targets the CEOs of the world’s three top alcohol producers -- Anheuser-Busch InBev, Diageo, and MillerCoors -- generating messages to each demanding that they stop using sports events to promote alcohol consumption.”
 
In 2009, the Surgeon General’s Call to Action to Prevent and Reduce Underage Drinking reported that 5,000 people under the age of 21 die annually from injuries caused by alcohol. Hundreds of thousands more suffer alcohol-fueled sexual assaults, serious injuries, diseases and academic failure. 

• The deadline for video entries is March 27, 2013
• The deadline for generating advocacy responses is April 10, 2013
• Winners will be announced during the Free Our Sports^TM 2013 Youth Film Festival World Premiere and Awards Ceremony April 11, 2013 at the Marin County Showcase Theater in San Rafael, California, streaming live at FreeOurSports.org
• Cash prizes will be awarded for the best videos and the best advocacy response

To view past years’ winning videos, this year’s promotional videos, and for complete information on contest rules, entry details and prizes, visit FreeOurSports.org. For background information on the effects of alcohol advertising go to AlcoholJustice.org.