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Nearly 330,000 injuries occur each year from accidents caused by texting while driving. Eleven teens die every day as a result of texting while driving. Twenty-one percent of teen drivers involved in fatal crashes were distracted by their cell phones.

Those are scary numbers, and they are a part of the reason a statewide news organization sponsors an annual contest to try to stop young people from texting while driving.

The Pennsylvania News Media Association (PNA) announced recently that it is once again joining with AT&T to host an “It Can Wait” editorial contest. PNA has asked member news organizations to hold a local contest with a monetary or other price of your choice. They are doing this to encourage high school students to write about distracted driving.

This contest is open to high school students across Pennsylvania and it provides students with the opportunity to win a $500 prize for a column or editorial that best answers the question. The contest is open to ninth through twelfth grade high school students in Pennsylvania who are 13 years or older.

“Every year we have gone to the Keystone Press Awards. We have seen students receive the prize for this contest and it’s a pretty big deal,” said BluePrint adviser Kerry Naylor, who has taken students to the PNA awards banquet for the last two years. “If you write a strong essay and win you get $500 and a day off of school to go to Hershey, but more important your message could help save a life.”

Entries must be submitted to the Daily Herald in Tyrone by Friday, December 15. The Herald then submits entrants to  PNA by Friday 26, 2018.

The statewide winner(s) will receive a $500 prize and will be honored on Wednesday, March 14, 2018 in conjunction with American East and the Student Keystone Press Awards luncheon in Hershey, Pa.