Contacts: Chris Franciskovich, Regional Communications Coordinator, Children’s Hospital of Illinois (309-671-4829)

Subject: Final week of Children’s Hospital of Illinois’ 2nd annual statewide Be A Buckle Buddy! Public Service Announcement (PSA) Contest.

For Immediate Release:

(March 20, 2009) Children’s Hospital of Illinois in association with the Illinois Department of Transportation’s Division of Traffic Safety (IDOT-DTS) is encouraging college and university student in Illinois to participate in the 2nd Annual Be a Buckle Buddy! PSA Contest for College and University Students. Individual students, or teams of up to four, will submit fully produced radio or television PSA’s to Children’s Hospital of Illinois by 4:30PM on Friday March 27th, 2009. PSA’s will be judges on script quality, cohesion with the Be A Buckle Buddy! message, Production Quality, and Talent Performance.
Radio and Television entries will compete for the same prizes. IDOT-DTS has provided a single financial award of $1000 for first place, a single financial award of $500 for second place, and a single financial award of $250 for third place. In addition to the financial award, the winning PSA will be distributed to Illinois media outlets.
Illinois College and University students are encouraged to go online to www.bucklebuddy.org, and download the entry packet. The packet contains the official contest rules, and the mailing address to submit completed entries. All entries must be received No Later than 4:30pm on Friday March 27, 2009.
“Be A Buckle Buddy!” is a public service program featuring a statewide, toll-free, non-punitive hotline, 1-888-800-2642, and website, www.bucklebuddy.org, which any concerned individual in Illinois may use to anonymously report an unrestrained or improperly restrained child passenger in a motor vehicle..

(Editor’s Note: With questions and interview opportunities please call Chris Franciskovich at 309-671-4829, or 309-253-3085.)
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