Alex White, T.D., Minister of State with responsibility for the National Drugs Strategy, today (19 February) launched the "Let's Talk About Drugs" National Media Awards 2013.
This year’s themes are "Alcohol and Sport – who is the real winner?" and "Weed and Health – are we making a hash of it". As part of this year’s Awards, the Department of Health is providing €10,000 for a special poster design competition designed to encourage people who have information about drug dealing to phone Crimestoppers on Freephone 1800 25 00 25.
Commenting at the launch, Minister White said, "I’m delighted to launch the 2013 Let’s Talk About Drugs National Media Awards today. They give young people an opportunity to discuss issues around alcohol and drugs through a range of media. What better way to engage young people around these issues than to use the benefits of their considerable social media skills, in such a positive proactive way".
Detail of the National Media Awards
The awards are run on an annual basis to stimulate debate around the drugs and alcohol issue in communities. Young people are invited to create a newspaper article, cartoon strip, record an audio feature or video/animated feature about drugs or alcohol. They are given two/three themes relating to drugs or alcohol which they can choose from. The competition is open to young people from the age of 12 to young adults over 21 and aimed at primary and secondary school students, college students and aspiring members of the media. Information on the awards can be found on
www.drugs.ie
.The National Media Awards are co-ordinated by the Greater Blanchardstown Response to Drugs, supported by the Department of Health, the HSE, Crimestoppers and the Irish Examiner.
Note for Editor
Greater Blanchardstown Response to Drugs
Greater Blanchardstown Response to Drugs (GBRD), which is responsible for creating the National Media Awards, is a community-based initiative set up to address the drugs issues in the greater Dublin 15 areas. It is funded from the Department of Health through the North Dublin city & county Regional Drug Task Force.
National Media Awards 2013:
Information on the awards is available on
www.drugs.ie,www.facebook.com/Drugs.ieand Twitter through @drugsdotie. The awards are also being promoted through the Local & Regional Drug Task Forces. The awards are funded by the Department of Health and HSE and are also being supported by Crimestoppers and the Irish Examiner. The competition is free to enter and is also open to Northern Ireland.
Crimestoppers:
The Irish Crimestoppers Trust was set up in 1998 by the Dublin Chamber of Commerce and An Garda Síochána to provide a confidential means for every citizen to report crime by calling a freephone confidential number. The sponsors include a small number of commercial organisations along with the Department of Justice and Equality.
The line is open from 9am until 9pm daily. Messages may be left outside those times.
All calls to Crimestoppers are free and anonymous. Callers do not need to give their name or address. Calls are answered by Gardaí who are trained to take information from anonymous callers in such a way as it can be useful in an investigation.