Last November, Alberta students were asked to do a drawing on a paper liquor bag about the dangers and consequences of impaired driving.
The bags were delivered to local liquor stores to use during the Christmas season. Of the 63,000 submissions, 350 were entered into a provincial contest organized by Students Against Drinking and Driving (SADD).
Portia Miller, a Grade 11 student from W.R Myers High School in Taber, is this year’s overall winner.
“I hope people see it because in my quote, I said, ‘Yikes, that could me.’ I want people to see it and think, ‘I don’t want to be in that situation where my world crashes down and this is all that I am and seen as,'” Miller said.
“I wanted to grow on the fact of regret and the loss of thought while you’re under the influence. While you’re having such an amazing time with people and he’s ( a character in her drawing)… having a good time and then he’s like, ‘Oh, I have to go home and I didn’t mean to get this wasted.'”
After winning the contest, one million of Miller’s illustrated bags will now be printed and then distributed to Alberta liquor stores over the May long weekend.
According to SADD, impaired driving is the number one cause of death and injury among youth. The image on the bags is meant to serve as a deterrent to drinking and driving over the holiday weekend.
Arthur Lee with SADD Alberta said the organization is trying to reach as may people as possible through the campaign.
“It goes full circle, starts with messaging with the students and then it also spreads to the parents when the bags are dropped off at the liquor stores,” Lee said. “So it affects a lot of people, and coordinates with a lot of people as well.”
Nine entries were also chosen in three other categories: Kindergarten to Grade 6, Grade 7 to 9 and grades 10 to 12.
The objective of the campaign is to keep people aware of the impact one bad decision can have.