Annual Contest Launches to Raise Awareness for Youth Immunization

NEWARK –  The Partnership for Maternal and Child Health of Northern New Jersey, in collaboration with the New Jersey Department of Health, announced the launch of the sixth annual Protect Me With 3+ poster and video contest. The contest challenges New Jersey youth in middle and high school to raise awareness about the importance of adolescent immunizations: tetanus, diphtheria, acellular pertussis (Tdap), human papillomavirus (HPV), meningococcal conjugate (MenACWY) and flu vaccines. Last year, the contest had nearly 400 total entries from students across New Jersey.
“The Protect Me With 3+ contest helps to educate adolescents about the recommended vaccines they need to remain healthy,” NJ State Epidemiologist and Assistant Commissioner, Dr. Tina Tan stated.  “Adolescence is a critical time to receive booster shots to prevent infectious diseases, therefore it is important for parents to ensure their children’s immunizations are up to date.”
“This contest provides parents and educators the opportunity to inform NJ youth about the medical importance of adolescent immunizations and to highlight the public health implications of vaccine preventable diseases,” stated Ilise Zimmerman, Executive Director of Partnership for Maternal and Child Health of Northern New Jersey. “The vaccines recommended for teens can prevent life-threatening diseases, such as respiratory infections, meningitis, and several types of cancers. The Partnership is proud to sponsor the Protect Me With 3+ contest for the sixth year in order to raise vaccination awareness. We encourage all New Jersey students to participate and are excited to view all of the creative poster and video submissions.”
Beginning on Dec. 4, 2017, middle school and high school students can participate in the contest by submitting a hand-drawn poster or an original computer-generated poster that integrate key facts about one of the adolescent vaccines listed above. High school students have the additional option to submit a video up to 30 seconds long in the place of a poster. The submission deadline is Jan. 28, 2018. Prizes will be awarded to the top three entries in the video and poster categories, and the winning entries will be showcased during various statewide immunization awareness activities.
Additionally, students who submit entries by Jan. 1, 2018, will be entered into random drawings to win prizes courtesy of Protect Me With 3+ event sponsors. For more information about Protect Me With 3+ sponsorship opportunities, visit www.protectmewith3.com/sponsors.
The top five finalists in each of the three categories will be posted on www.protectmewith3.com for public voting in March. The winners will then be announced and honored at an awards ceremony in April.
New Jersey teachers are encouraged to make the Protect Me With 3+ contest a class project. As an added incentive, prizes will be awarded to the classrooms with the most eligible submissions in each of the three categories. For more information and interactive materials for schools, visit http://www.protectmewith3.com/schools/.
Information regarding eligibility, video and poster submission guidelines, and contest rules can be found at www.protectmewith3.com.