Jasper County high school student wins national PSA contest

JASPER COUNTY, Ga. - A Georgia teenager is spreading an important message nationwide. A Jasper County High School student won a national video contest on the importance of safe driving. Now his public service announcement will be aired on television across the country.

Hunter Cleveland was not expecting his work to end up on TV when he wrote a script for a school project at the end of his junior year.

"I found out about this project from my film teacher. He assigned it as, like, an in-class assignment. We've done it before, and we've had people place for it, but we never had a winner," Cleveland said.

His was one of more than 300 entries in the National Road Safety Foundation's Drive to Life PSA contest.

"This year's theme, however, was more geared toward passenger empowerment. We've spoken to the driver year after year, over and over, and we do see some progress in safe driving, however, we do not address the passenger enough, and the passenger also holds a lot of responsibility in a vehicle," said Michelle Anderson, the director of operations for the National Road Safety Foundation.

Hunter's script, called "Break the Silence," covered that topic.

"So the idea of the film was to have the passengers in three different situations and at the end showing them like ripping tape off that have, like the worries written on it," he said.

Ultimately, it won him the top prize - a $2,000 scholarship and a trip to New York with his dad to work with an Emmy-winning production team to put the piece together.

"It was great working with people that really experienced and what they do. I was kind of like the person who directed the film, and I, I filled in a bunch of roles," he said.

Anderson said it's important these messages come from teenagers to reach other teens because the stakes are so high.

"It's very important that these messages of safe driving come from teen drivers because car crashes are the No. 1 killer of teens," she said. "You tend to as a teenager be quicker to listen to a friend than you will to your mother or your dad. So we understand that power."

As for Cleveland, he hopes his message comes across loud and clear when it airs on more than 170 television stations nationwide.

"I would say to always be thoughtful of what you're doing in the car. Don't take your eyes off the road for anything. And if you come into a situation where you kind of have to try to give that responsibility to someone else in the car to make sure they stay as safe as possible," he said.

One of the runner-ups in the contest was also from Jasper County High School. That student won a $500 prize.