Impaired? No Time to Drive: DC High School Students Video Challenge

Driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs puts your life, the lives of others in the car, and the lives of others on the road at risk. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, every day, 29 people in the United States die in motor vehicle crashes that involve an alcohol-impaired driver. This amounts to one death every 50 minutes. And, sadly, one in 10 high schoolers drive impaired.

But we can help change this trajectory. We are calling on DC high schoolers to help.

The Impaired? No Time to Drive annual video contest challenges High School students like you to create short videos to help inform your peers about the consequences of driving while impaired. These videos could help you earn up to 10 community service hours that you need for graduation and – as an added bonus – you will have a chance to win prizes. We hope you will use your creativity to help explain to your peers why they shouldn’t drive under the influence of alcohol or drugs.

For this year’s contest, you must submit your videos by March 1, 2024. Winning videos will be announced on March 18, 2024. The videos will be posted on the Office of the Attorney General’s YouTube page and potentially other social media platforms. Previous contest winners’ videos can be viewed here.

How to Participate in the Impaired? No Time to Drive video challenge:

Record:

• Decide if you are going to create the video yourself or work as a team with other students on one video (teams can include up to 4 students from the same school).
• Film your video (minimum of 30 seconds and maximum of 60 seconds in length)
• Fill out the contest form below (Also linked here).
• The videos must be recorded horizontally.
• The videos may display a title at the beginning and must provide credits at the end. The credits do not count in the 60-second maximum length of the video. The credits must include:
  • First name of student(s) who worked on the video and their grade(s)
  • DC school the student(s) attend
• Get creative and have fun!

Register & Submit:

• Fill out the “Consent to Participate in Impaired Driving Social Media Contest To Engage Youth in Preventing Traffic Fatalities and Discouraging Impaired Driving Media Grant/Release/Waiver Agreement” (“Agreement”) form available here or download it here. Be sure to fill out and submit a signed Agreement for each team member who worked on the submission. 
• Send your Agreement, Registration Form to  OAGstudentcontest@dc.gov by March 1, 2024.
• Submit videos only to the following OAG BOX link by March 1, 2024, no other submissions sites will be accepted.
• Write “Impaired? No Time to Drive” in the subject line.
• If you download the Registration Form and Agreement, include the completed forms in the email. If you submitted them through this website, you do not need to include them in the email.

    Please send any questions or comments to OAGstudentcontest@dc.gov  

Tips for the videos:

• Research the effects of alcohol and/or drug use on a person’s ability to drive and the consequences of driving while impaired.
• Speak slowly and clearly so that your words are understood by the audience and the judges.
• Make sure background music or sounds do not interfere with the spoken dialogue.
• Screen text, size, and display need to be readable.
• Submissions must be at least 30 seconds and a maximum of 60 seconds. Slates and credits cannot be overlaid on the video or included in the 30-60 second allotment. Entries under 30 seconds or over 60 seconds will be disqualified.
• Submissions must be less than 50GB.

Contest Rules:

• Deadline to submit registration and video is March 1, 2024.
• Winners to be announced on March 18, 2024.
• Your video must address impaired driving safety awareness and best practices.
• Entries must be between 30-60 seconds in length.
• Entries must be under 50GB in size.
• Entries can be submitted by individuals or by a team of up to 4 members from the same school.
• Each student participating in the contest must be listed on the registration form.
• Only one entry per student. If a student participates in the creation of more than one video, all of that student’s entries will be disqualified.
• No professional assistance is permitted.
• No use of copyrighted material is allowed, including background music and company logos on clothing or elsewhere.
• Submissions must not contain inappropriate or explicit images or profanity.
• 10 community service hours will be awarded to each contestant for qualified videos successfully submitted by March 1, 2024. Community service hours will be awarded to the students no later than the end of the 2023-2024 school year.
• Video submissions will be accepted in both English and Spanish languages.
• A group of judges will determine the winners. All judges’ determinations are final.
• Winning videos may be posted on the social media accounts of any of the contest sponsors, including, but not limited to, the Office of the Attorney General, DC Public Schools, and District Department of Transportation.