The Details

Act Out Loud is a teen-led contest that encourages youth across the country to take action to help keep what you value most – your friends, freedom and fun.  Act Out Loud 2014 has one project goal – to plan and host a safe teen-driving rally in your school and/or community in April or May 2014, in support of Global Youth Traffic Safety Month.  The contest will focus on educating your peers and communities on the three primary causes of teen crash fatalities:  speeding; lack of seatbelt usage and distractions caused by teen passengers.  Teams can earn up to $1,000 for completion of activites and will receive a free toolkit with great ideas and materials to get you started.  The first 220 teams to submit their date, location and rally plans will receive the team stipend and toolkit.  Teams that submit a video or picture slideshow of their event will be eligible for the grand prize of $10,000 and three runner-up prizes of $2,000 each.  Registration opens October 16, 2013.

For the 2014 Act Out Loud contest, teams of high school-aged youth members from high schools and youth-focused organizations will plan an Act Out Loud rally to take place in April or May 2014 as part of Global Youth Traffic Safety Month. There are two design projects along the way to help teams earn up to $1,000 for their rally, and qualify for the grand prize of $10,000!

Each participating Act Out Loud team will be asked to complete five steps throughout the contest, with the goal of raising awareness for teen safe driving. The following chart outlines the program steps, the teams’ rewards for completing steps and the expected timing for stipend payments to be sent to teams. The following steps, stipends and payment timing only applies to the first 220 teams that register.

Step Due Date Reward Payment Timing
Step 1: Submit rally date, location and final plans for rally 3/1/14 Toolkit and $300 Week of March 17
Step 2: Submit a design for an original poster for the toolkit (optional) 12/16/13 $200 Week of March 17

 

Step 3: Submit a design for an original t-shirt design (optional) 01/13/14 $200 Week of March 17
Step 4: Host a teen safe driving rally on their school grounds or in the local community April/May 2014 N/A N/A
Step 5: Submit a final rally report in video or picture slideshow format 05/23/14 $300 May

Teams must complete steps 1, 4 and 5 in order to be eligible for the $10,000 grand prize.

The two design projects and the teen safe driving rally must focus on at least one of the three primary causes of teen crash fatalities: speeding, lack of seatbelt usage or distractions caused by teen passengers.

HOW TO ENTER:

Act Out Loud Youth Team Entry:

During the Contest Period, visit www.ActOutLoud.org and follow the directions provided to completely fill out and submit the online registration form, which includes: names, grade level, phone numbers (including area codes) and email addresses of up to six (6) youth team members and name, phone number (including area code), email address and job title of the team’s advisor; team’s organization or school name, complete address, phone number (including area code), organization or school enrollment size and school principal’s name or organization’s director’s name; where they heard about the contest; why they feel teen driver safety is important, and the non-profit national youth organization the team is affiliated with (if applicable). Members of each team must obtain written permission from their parents/legal guardians and should also obtain permission from advisors and principals or directors before submitting their entry. The team’s youth leaders submitting the entry will be deemed the designated representatives for the team submitting the entry and such persons will be authorized to make decisions on behalf of the team. All registrations must be received by 11:59 p.m. ET on March 1, 2014 to be considered. By registering, team members (and, if eligible minors, their parents or legal guardians) agree to comply with these Official Rules. Registrations generated by script, macro or other automated means are void. Limit one (1) entry per high school or organization. Multiple entries submitted by a high school or organization after the first entry submitted by that high school or organization will not be eligible. All registration and entry materials become the sole property of the Sponsor and will not be returned.

Each entry must be the team’s own original work, must focus on one of the primary causes of teen crash fatalities (speeding, failure to wear a seatbelt, distractions caused by teen passengers and be in keeping with the Administrator’s, the Sponsor’s and Allstate’s image and may not be offensive, as determined by the Sponsor in its sole discretion, nor can it defame or invade publicity rights or privacy of any person, living or deceased, or otherwise infringe upon any person’s personal or property rights or any other third party rights.al respets

PARTICIPATION:

Act Out Loud Youth Team Registration

Registration Phase: The first two hundred and twenty (220) registered teams will be posted on www.ActOutLoud.org by state, city, and high school or organization name. The first two hundred and twenty (220) eligible registrations with a maximum of one per high school or organization as allowable and determined by the Sponsor will be the “2014 Act Out Loud Teams.” The first two hundred and twenty (220) eligible registered teams that submit their date, location and final plans for their event by March 1, 2014 will receive a collateral toolkit of resources to support the team’s efforts. Sponsor reserves all rights to these materials and contestants are not permitted to exploit or otherwise make use of any such materials for any purpose other than for their participation in this Contest.

Act Out Loud teams will be contacted monthly via NOYS electronic newsletters and invited to participate in Act Out Loud Twitter chats and webinars. Administrator reserves the right to conduct a background check of all team members (and, if eligible minors, then their parents or legal guardians), at its sole discretion. Act Out Loud teams may be disqualified, at Administrator sole discretion, for any of the following: having been charged with or convicted of a felony or misdemeanor, being delinquent on a government ordered payment, such as child support, spousal support, alimony, tax payments, etc.

$1,000 STIPEND

  • Eligible teams are able to earn a total of $1,000 as follows:
    • $400 by completing both of the following projects:
      • Poster Design (due December 16, 2013)
      • SAFE-Tee Shirt Design (due January 13, 2014)
        • The designs must focus one of the three primary causes of teen crash fatalities: speeding, seatbelt usage or distractions caused by teen passengers.
      • Eligible teams can earn up to $600 for submitting their date, location and final plans for their event by March 1.

How the Stipends will be paid:

  • Teams will receive 50% of their total earned stipend the week of March 17 and will receive the remainder of their stipend after submitting the video or picture slideshows of their event in May.
  • Any school that received a stipend as part of the Act Out Loud 2013 program, but did not submit their final event report and/or video will receive the full stipend AFTER they submit their final event report and/or video for their 2014 project.

Toolkits and how winners are decided

  • Toolkits will be shipped to all teams that have submitted their date, location and final event plans. Toolkits will begin to be shipped the week of March 17.

Submit Rally Date, Location and Plans: After registering for the Contest, Act Out Loud Teams begin planning their Act Out Loud safe teen driving rally to be held between the dates of April 01 – May 16, 2014. Teams can earn up to $600 for completing this step. Teams must submit their date, location and final rally plans by 11:59 p.m. ET on March 1, 2014. To submit information, teams must:

  1. Log in to their team’s Act Out Loud page on ActOutLoud.org.
  2. Complete the form – insert the following information into the designated areas.
  • Date
  • Location
  • Time
  • Who was invited
  • Who is attending
  • Activities planned
  • Speakers involved

Teams can submit this information at any time, as long as all information is complete by 11:59 p.m. ET on March 1, 2014.

Design Poster for Toolkit: Teams are invited to design a poster for the toolkit. Designs must focus on one of the three primary causes of teen crash fatalities: speeding, seatbelt usage or distractions caused by teen passengers. Posters also must contain the Act Out Loud logo, The Allstate Foundation logo and the GYTSM cause ribbon. All logos can be found in the electronic toolkit on www.ActOutLoud.org. Teams are to save their document as a JPG and upload it to their Act Out Loud team pages by 11:59 p.m. ET on December 16, 2013. An evaluation team comprised of youth and adult traffic safety leaders will select the best entry and 10 runner-up selections to be showcased on www.ActOutLoud.org and social media sites. Judges will evaluate posters on messaging, creativity and design. Teams must upload your poster design by 11:59 p.m. ET on December 16, 2013. To submit your information for this step:

  1. Create the team’s poster. Designs must focus on one of the three primary causes of teen crash fatalities: speeding, seatbelt usage or distractions caused by teen passengers
  2. Save document as a JPG.
  3. Log into team’s Act Out Loud page on ActOutLoud.org.
  4. Upload team’s JPG to team page by 11:59 p.m. ET on December 16, 2013.

SAFE-Tee Shirt Design: Teams are invited to submit a SAFE-Tee shirt design. Teams can earn $200 for completing this step. The shirts can be designed by one person, by a team or teams can host a SAFE-Tee Shirt Design Contest in their schools. Included in the electronic toolkit is information on how to host a SAFE-Tee Shirt Design Contest in a school. Eligible designs must focus one of the three primary causes of teen crash fatalities: speeding, seatbelt usage or distractions caused by teen passengers and include the GYTSM cause ribbon. The ribbon image can be found in the electronic toolkit (ActOutLoud.org.) SAFE-Tee shirt designs are due 11:59 p.m. ET on January 13, 2014. Act Out Loud judges will choose the Top 25 designs based on the creativity of the design and the teen safe driving message communicated in the design. The top 25 will be placed in an album on the Act Out Loud website, ActOutLoud.org. The top 25 will be voted on from January 22 through January 29, 2014. The winning SAFE-Tee shirt design with the most votes will be the official t-shirt for Act Out Loud. T-shirts will be available for purchase after the winning team is announced. To submit a SAFE-Tee shirt design, teams must:

  1. Determine a safe teen driving message for team t-shirts. Designs must focus on one of the three primary causes of teen crash fatalities: speeding, seatbelt usage or distractions caused by teen passengers.
  2. Design a SAFE-Tee Shirt either by hosting a design contest and selecting a local winner or have your team create the design.
  3. Convert the file to a JPG file.
  4. Upload the file of the SAFE-Tee shirt design on team’s Act Out Loud team page by 11:59 p.m. ET on January 13, 2014.

Host Safe Teen Driving Rally and Submit a Video or Slideshow with Report: Teams are asked to host their safe teen driving rallies between the dates of April 01 – May 16, 2014. Teams are to document their rallies through video and/or photographs. After the rally, teams put together their video or slideshow and prepare it for submission to www.ActOutLoud.org. To be eligible for the grand prize of $10,000 and receive the remaining portion of their earned stipend, teams must submit a video or slideshow of their Act Out Loud safe teen driving rally and final rally report by 11:59 p.m. ET on May 23, 2014. Along with the video or slideshow, teams must complete a final rally report. This report is located on their Act Out Loud team pages.

To submit your video or slideshow:

  1. Host safe teen driving event and take pictures or video.
  2. Have team put together the video/slideshow making it fun and able to showcase all aspects of the event.
  3. Upload teams video/slideshow to team page on ActOutLoud.org.

Judging Criteria

Videos and slideshows will be judged by Act Out Loud judges to determine the winner.   Judging criteria for your videos/slideshows will be based on the following.

  1. Involvement of student body: 30%
  2. Creativity of activities: 20%
  3. Strength of teen safe driving message: 20%
  4. Community involvement: 10%
  5. Who attended: 10%
  6. School administration involvement: 10%

Electronic Toolkit

The electronic toolkit for 2014 can be found at www.actoutloud.org/toolkit. Here is a list of resources available for download in the toolkit:

    • Rally Planning Guide – VERY important tool in the success of your rally
    • Pre- and Post Rally Questionnaire
    • Print Materials that are in the free toolkit (flyers, postcards, poster, tent cards, etc.)
    • Save the Date cards
    • Rally invitations
    • Printable calendar of dates and timeline
    • Task lists/planning tool for week-of and day-of rally
    • Meeting minute records log
    • Rally expense log
    • Ads for school newsletter and website
    • Media kit (sample press release and media advisory)
    • Participation certificate for AOL team members
    • Pledge links pdf

If there is anything else you would like available, please contact Julie Kettner at [email protected].