Teen PSA Contest Promotes Youth Suicide Prevention Amid Pandemic

Press release from the Society for the Prevention of Teen Suicide:

Nov. 10, 2020

The Society for the Prevention of Teen Suicide (SPTS) is holding its fourth annual Public Service Announcement (PSA) campaign contest, in collaboration with 2nd Floor Youth Helpline and the New Jersey Traumatic Loss Coalition. The contest is open to high school students throughout New Jersey to help promote suicide awareness and prevention efforts. The 2nd Floor Youth Helpline is a confidential and anonymous helpline for New Jersey’s youth and young adults that is available via phone or text at any time.

SPTS recognizes our teens as one of the most underutilized resources in suicide prevention, and invites their vital participation in the prevention process. The SPTS PSA contest aims to engage youth in suicide prevention discussions and resources while offering them the chance to share the important information and resources with their peers.

The PSA contest is available to all high school students in New Jersey and collaboration is encouraged for video projects. Educators are also invited to incorporate this as a project for their classrooms. In addition to school groups, all youth organizations in the community are invited to enter including, but not limited to; scout groups, clubs and sports teams. Each entrant/group must have a trusted staff member to oversee their project. SPTS believes that this contest is a special opportunity to get students actively involved in their mental health and help them raise awareness for suicide prevention in their communities. Please visit https://psa.sptsusa.org/ for the contest rules and online application form.

The contest is open until December 18th,2020. There are two categories available to enter: poster PSA or video PSA. Submissions will be placed on the SPTS website to view and vote for their favorite during a “public” voting period to be announced in January. Winners will be announced in February, selected based on a scoring rubric that weighs public vote with internal scoring. The first place winner of the Video contest will win a $250 Amazon gift card, with $100 awarded to the runner up; the first place winner of the Poster contest will receive a $150 Amazon gift card, with $75 awarded to the runner up.

The Society for the Prevention of Teen Suicide (SPTS) was founded in 2005 by two Monmouth county fathers, who each experienced the devastating loss of a teenage child by suicide. SPTS firmly believes that accessible quality education and public awareness about teen suicide can save young lives. The core values that define SPTS and its founding board are passionate commitment to the value of life, belief in the effectiveness of evidence based suicide prevention strategies, dedication to removing public stigma about suicide and conviction that accurate information and education about suicide can save lives. The mission of SPTS is to reduce the number of youth suicides and attempted suicides by encouraging public awareness through the development and promotion of educational training programs. SPTS offers a variety of resources on its website that can be downloaded and duplicated at no cost for more information on what you or your community can to do help prevent suicide visit us at www.sptsusa.org.

If you or someone you know may be suicidal, call 1-800-273-TALK (8255). You are not alone.

This press release was produced by the Society for the Prevention of Teen Suicide. The views expressed here are the author's own.