Courageous Persuaders Video Scholarship

Scholarship Sponsored by Courageous Persuaders

Official Rules — Courageous Persuaders Competition (2025/2026)

Eligibility
- The 2025/2026 Courageous Persuaders Competition is open only to students enrolled in high schools located in the continental United States.

General Requirements
- Each entry must be a commercial no longer than 30 seconds. The message must encourage safe driving and be aimed at middle school classrooms. Judges will evaluate entries based on originality, creativity, and persuasiveness.
- You may submit more than one commercial.
- Entries may be created by an individual or by a team. All team members listed on the entry form must be high school students in grades 9–12 (age 19 or younger). Every team must name a Team Captain. If a winning entry is a team submission, any scholarship award will be divided equally among the team members named on the entry form. All listed team members must possess a valid government-issued photo ID.

How to Enter
- Upload your finished video to a public online video hosting site (for example: YouTube, Vimeo, or SchoolTube) and complete the online entry form, including the link to your video. Videos that are not publicly accessible (for example, private Google Drive, private Canva links, or any link that requires account access or a permission request) will be disqualified.
- Entry deadline: all submissions must be uploaded and the entry form completed by March 30, 2026.

Consent Forms and Documentation
- Every person who contributed to creating or producing the commercial must be covered by a completed Consent Form. This includes, but is not limited to, all team members, on-camera actors, voice-over artists, individuals appearing in photographs, composers, musicians, and sound-effect creators.
- You will be contacted to provide these Consent Forms only if your entry is selected as a finalist. Completed Consent Forms must be returned before final judging, before a finalist’s entry is broadcast on television, or before it is posted to the Courageous Persuaders website. Failure to supply fully completed Consent Forms for all participants will result in disqualification.

Work Cited / Permissions
- If chosen as a finalist you must also submit a Works Cited page in MLA or APA format along with the Consent Forms. Cite any photographs, facts, statistics, or other source material used.
- Do not include family photos, published photos, images from websites, or film footage unless you have written permission from the copyright holder and, where applicable, the people pictured. This requirement includes school activity and sports footage. Images and movie/TV/game footage found on the internet or in print are usually copyrighted and cannot be used without signed permission. Use of images or footage without required written permission will disqualify the entry.

Originality and Image Use
- All visual content in the commercial must be original. Use of copyrighted imagery or AI-generated images is prohibited and will lead to disqualification.

Content Restrictions and Safety
- No alcohol or illegal substances may be consumed or appear to be consumed while making the commercial. You may simulate drinking using a non-alcoholic substitute, but the scene must be cut before the container reaches the actor’s lips; nothing can be ingested. Drinking games (e.g., Beer Pong) are not allowed.
- Any brand names, corporate marks, or logos visible in footage must be obscured, blurred, or otherwise distorted. This includes businesses, schools, universities, cemeteries, car makers, beverages, logos on clothing, etc. Do not show recognizable alcohol containers, even with labels removed.
- Commercials must be suitable for television broadcast to a middle school audience: no vulgar language or graphic material is permitted.
- Entries that depict dangerous stunts, unsafe driving, vomiting, or toilet scenes will be disqualified. Examples: a driver shown texting while the vehicle is moving is not allowed; a texting driver must be parked.
- Do not include any telephone numbers or website addresses other than CourageousPersuaders.com. You may optionally list the names of the individuals or team who produced the video.
- Images of gravestones (tombstones) showing legible names and dates may not be used unless you provide written permission from the deceased’s family with your entry. Alternatively, names and dates may be obscured (blurred or blacked out).

Use of Submissions
- Videos submitted to the competition will not be returned. By submitting a video you grant the Detroit Auto Dealers Association Education Foundation, Inc. (DADA Education Foundation) the right to display, duplicate, edit, and exhibit your entry for educational or promotional purposes, as the Foundation deems appropriate. We recommend keeping a personal copy of your commercial.

Disqualification Grounds
- Entries that glamorize or encourage drinking or illegal activity will be disqualified.
- Failure to meet any rule in this document (including consent, permissions, originality, safety, and content standards) will result in disqualification.
- Courageous Persuaders and the DADA Education Foundation retain sole discretion to determine eligibility and resolve any disputes regarding submissions.

Odds of Winning
- Because the number of entries varies from year to year, the odds of winning cannot be determined in advance.

Music & Audio Rules
Permissible audio sources are limited to one of the following:
1) Courageous Persuaders Free-Use Music (available exclusively for this competition — do not use published music without the owners’ permission);
2) Apple GarageBand content, used in accordance with the GarageBand Software License Agreement; or
3) Original music you composed and performed yourself (alone or with listed team members).

Important notes:
- Many websites claim to provide “copyright-free” music but may not offer legally usable licenses for this contest; using music or sound effects from those sources will disqualify your entry.
- Everyone who composed or performed the music or sound effects must be included on a Consent Form. You may not use someone else’s recorded song (a cover) or sound effects unless that person is a team member who is listed on the entry form and can sign the Consent Form.
- GarageBand may be used as part of your original composition in compliance with its license, but do not use any other third-party music or sound-effect libraries that lack appropriate rights.

Courageous Persuaders Free-Use Music — Access & Rules
- Permission to use the Courageous Persuaders Free-Use Music is granted for entries in this competition only.
- If you use these tracks you must identify the music on your submission as “Courageous Persuaders Free-Use Music” and list the track number(s) you used.
- Questions about the free-use library can be directed to Brian Yessian: brian@yessian.com.
- To access the music library, follow the instructions at: https://yessian.disco.ac/cat/1137825369
- USER ID: courage@yessian.com
- PASSWORD: CPFirst1!
- Do not change the shared password, as the account must remain accessible to all student entrants.

Contact
- For music-related questions: brian@yessian.com

By entering the Courageous Persuaders Competition you acknowledge and agree to these rules.