Today, March 6, the Westside journalism program won the National Safety Council ‘Click it, Don’t Risk it’ contest PSA video contest. The journalism department won $2,000 for submitting a PSA. Seniors Connor Flairty, Aren Rendell and Jon Bass teamed up with junior Elias Ginsberg to put together a 30-second PSA showcasing the importance of buckling up. The National Safety Council of Nebraska presented the check to the journalism department this morning at 8:20 a.m.

Beverly Reicks, the president and CEO of the National Safety Council of Nebraska, explains why the Safety Council put on this contest.

“We were concerned that teens are dying at an alarming rate because they aren’t being buckled in Nebraska,” Reicks said. “We’ve got 75 percent of teens that aren’t wearing their seat belts and we really want to get the message out that a seatbelt can save your life. So click it, don’t risk it.”

The Nebraska National Safety Council has put on contests in the past to reach out to students, but this year, the council revamped its social media presence to reach out and grab more teens’ attention. They started the ‘Click it, Don’t Risk it’ campaign to improve the safety of teen drivers.

“This campaign got over 12 million impressions on Twitter, which was phenomenal,” Reicks said. “We can do great things with social media, and the power of social media is exponential if we can send that message.”

The PSA will be shown at local theaters around Omaha including Marcus theaters and The Rave. The video will be shown at the beginning of movies starting March 13 and will run for six weeks.