Timberline high School student Errol Lazare was very happy when he opened the letter from the Vancouver Island Health Authority advising him that three of his submissions to this year's,” Behind the Smokescreen” video contest had been selected as winners, namely:”Spirit eagle”, “Lost in Translation” and “Smoking Chicken”. This is the third year the Health Authority has held this contest, sponsored by Health Canada. The contest challenges high school students to develop 30 or 60 second public service announcements on some aspect of smoking. This year's theme was the same as last year's: youth access and social supply of tobacco.
The contest is held in each of the 7 health regions in the province. The winning videos from each region are reviewed and the ten best are selected and circulated along with ballots to all the high schools in the province. Ultimately, it is the students who vote for their favorite and the winning video is displayed on Health Canada's website. Lazare's videos from the last two years have gone on to the top ten tape and one is currently in circulation.
This year's results establish Lazare as the first student to have winning entries three years in a row. He has also set a record as the first student to have multiple entries win in a single year.
Lazare wishes to acknowledge the help and support of the Comox Valley Community: students Chelsea Keene and Jonathan Hanuse acted; several members of the Swim fit group volunteered to act and gave stellar performances; JoAnn Restoule sang and drummed while Mr. David Sommerville acted in “Spirit Eagle”. Docker's Market allowed him to use their store as one his locations, as did Lou Dryden, President of North Island College. Courtenay Costumes and Rentals provided some props and Ken Pettman, his chicken suit. Sunwest Auto had offered one of their brand new VW convertibles, which had to be declined because of “product placement” issues, and so Margaret Ross offered Lazare her “generic car”. To all, a sincere thank you.
A screening of the seven winning entries in the Vancouver Island health region will be held at Timberline Secondary in Campbell River on March 17 th @1:30pm and the public is invited.