Teen Central

Local Youth Groups Honored as Top Ten Finalists in a Statewide Anti-Tobacco Film-Shorts Contest!

Worcester, MA—Two Worcester youth groups – Pride Productions and Teen Central of Worcester Community Cable Access – were honored as Top Ten Finalists at an award ceremony and festival for the first annual “Gettin’ Real on Reel” statewide film-shorts contest co-sponsored by The Medical Foundation and WCVB-TV Channel 5. Film-short entries were produced for youth by youth to raise awareness of the dangers of tobacco use and demonstrate their healthy alternatives to smoking and tobacco use.

Over 150 high-school youth from across the state of Massachusetts participated in this contest, and submitting forty 30-second film entries!

The grand-prize winning spot will be aired on WCVB-TV Channel 5 during the month of May, and along with the first runner-up, will be shown on movie theater screens across the state. The top ten finalists will be featured on WCVB’s E-Campus website and the Youth Action Initiative’s upcoming website.

Gettin’ Real on Reel is a part of the Youth Action Initiative, a project of The Medical Foundation, designed to engage Massachusetts youth ages 12 to 18 (or grades 7-12) in a statewide movement against tobacco. The project is funded by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health.

DPH Commissioner John Auerbach presented the winners with certificates and prizes, and pledged to continue to support efforts to prevent teen smoking. “Nearly 90% of smokers start smoking while they’re teenagers,” Auerbach said. “That’s why it’s so important for us to help Massachusetts teens get the message out about healthy alternatives to smoking.”

Brittany Chen, staff with the Youth Action Initiative, said about the contest, “It always seems like people talk about all the things that teens do wrong. So we saw this contest as an opportunity for young people to be creative and educate people about all the cool things that teens do other than smoking. This was a great opportunity to get youth’s voices heard and to send out a positive and healthy message.”

Youth from the top-ten winning groups and the 5 honorable mention awardees, along with parents and adult advisors attended a film-shorts festival at the WCVB Channel 5 Television Studio in Needham on May 5th from 2-4PM. At the festival, attendees were able to view the winning film-shorts participate in studio tours given by Channel 5 staff.

“Gettin’ Real on Reel” and the Youth Action Initiative are funded through the Massachusetts Department of Public Health and managed by The Medical Foundation, Boston.
FOR MORE INFO:
Brittany Chen
The Medical Foundation
617-279-2240 ext. 324

IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Worcester: WCCA TV’s Youth Media Production a TOP 10 Finalist in a statewide competition.

WCCA's TEEN CENTRAL, produced by the station’s KidsNet/Youth Channel students are one of the top ten finalist in first annual Gettin’ Real on Reel Film-Shorts Contest is co-sponsored by the Medical Foundation Youth Action Initiative and WCVB TV.

Anti Smoking was the theme for this statewide, Youth Action Initiative competition.

“We’re keeping our fingers crossed to find out who will win on May 5th. The winners will be announced May 5th at WCVB Channel 5 in Needham. Theses students do an outstanding and amazing job each and every week here at WCCA TV. We are very proud of the work they do to the benefit of all of Worcester.”

Teen Central is a WCCA KidsNet/Youth Channel production the young community television producers produce “Young Views News”, “Teen Central”, Segments for "Community Vision News", and also a number of documentaries, public service announcements, short films and more. The program has a special place at WCCA’s website: www.wccatv.com/wcca/youth .

KidsNet, was created to encourage participation in the public access process by Mauro DePasquale in 1991 and is the first Youth television media learning workshops to be offered in Worcester. This after school program, available at WCCA TV is TV by, for and of Worcester youth.

For more about this exciting program tune into WCCA Cable channel 13 or visit www.wccatv.com

For more about the competition contact:
Brittany Chen, Project Assistant, Youth Action Initiative
The Medical Foundation, 95 Berkeley Street, Boston, MA 02116
617-279-2240 ext. 324, bchen@tmfnet.org , www.makesmokinghistory.org

For WCCA TV 13 or KidsNet/Youth Channel:
Contact: Mauro DePasquale, Executive Director
or Judy Langlois, KidsNet Coordinator, at 508-755-1880