Three $1,000 scholarships are at stake in a song contest sponsored by the Kansas Department of Transportation.
According to an announcement from KDOT, entries are open in the second annual Sobriety Rocks Scholarship Contest.
The contest and songs are intended to encourage Kansas youths to resist pressure to drink alcohol and to abstain from drinking alcohol until they can drink legally at 21.
The scholarships will be awarded on May 1 in the following categories: best original lyrics, best performance, and best original song. A contestant can win in more than one category.
Pete Bodyk, chief of the KDOT Bureau of Traffic Safety, said that underage drinking goes beyond breaking Kansas law; it is causing serious injuries and death in too many instances.
Information from Bodyk showed that:
F Kansas youth represented approximately 9 percent of the state’s drivers, but were involved in 17 percent of the alcohol-related crashes in 2006.
F The number of accidents involving an impaired underage driver — 614 — jumped by 18 percent during 2006.
F The Federal highway Administration estimates the economic cost of those crashes in 2006 at $73,093,750.
“In annual surveys over the last three years, 17 percent of Kansas students grades 6 through 12 reported at least one session of binge drinking in the previous two weeks,” Bodyk said. “In fact, during 207, 40 percent of high school sophomores and 53 percent of seniors reported having consumed alcohol in the previous 30 days.”
KDOT opened its song contest last month with the release of “Numb the Pain,” by Mitchell Irving (Irv de Phenom), the overall winner of the 2007 contest.
“The contest is an opportunity for Kansas’ youth to create their own song dealing with the pressure associated with drinking or (using) other drugs,” a department news release stated.
The contest is open to Kansas residents ages 12 through 20. A complete set of contest rules may be seen at www.sobrietyrocksks.net.