Boulder City teens win state video contest

Two Boulder City High School freshmen won the Instagram category of the Nevada Prescription Drug Abuse Prevention Video contest, which challenged sixth through 12th grade students to create short public service announcements to combat a growing substance abuse problem among teens.

Zachary Trone and Gabe Lawrence, both 15-year-old members of the Boulder City High video production class, will receive $1,000 for being the winning entry in their category. Nikki Hamada of Reno High submitted the winning YouTube video, and the winning Vine video was submitted by Matthew Loudenclos of Washoe Innovations School in Reno.

Trone and Lawrence, who also have recorded the school’s football games so players and coaches can study game action, said they wanted to highlight the dangers teens face when taking prescriptions not meant for them.

“We know that prescription drug abuse can lead to death so we tried to build on that,” Trone said. “It’s kind of got a lot of death in it.”

The videos were judged on sound, aesthetics, originality and overall messaging. The statewide judging panel consisted of Gov. Brian Sandoval; Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto; Dale Erquiaga, Superintendent of Public Instruction, Nevada Department of Education; Stacy Woodbury, Executive Director, Nevada State Medical Association; and Marie Mortera, Anchor, KSNV TV NBC 3. Entries were submitted by students from Clark, Carson City, Churchill, Douglas, Mineral, Nye, Pershing, and Washoe counties.

The three students were selected out of 186 entries, and they were limited to 30 seconds on YouTube, 15 seconds on Instagram and 6.5 seconds on VINE.

“I am proud to showcase our students’ talent and appreciate their efforts to illustrate the dangers of prescription drug abuse amongst teens,” Masto said.

The winning PSAs are posted on the attorney general’s website at http://ag.nv.gov/RXAbuse/. Contest partners include the Nevada Statewide Coalition Partnership, Nevada Division of Public and Behavioral Health, Nevada Board of Pharmacy and Solutions Recovery, Inc.

Contact Steven Moore at 702-380-4563 or smoore@reviewjournal.com.