Official Rules
The following rules must be followed, or your video will be disqualified:
- The 2024/2025 Courageous Persuaders Competition is open to all students attending a high school in the continental United States only.
- Your commercial must be 30 seconds or less, and your message must promote safe driving. Middle School classrooms are your target audience. Videos will be judged on originality, creativity, and persuasiveness.
- How to enter your commercial: Upload video entry to the Internet (i.e., YouTube, Vimeo, or SchoolTube) along with the completion of the online entry form including link to the video.
A. The video must be uploaded onto a public platform. Videos uploaded that require access via account or request (i.e., private Google Drive, Canva link, etc.) will be disqualified. - Video deadline is March 24, 2025. Your entry must be submitted by this date.
- More than one commercial may be submitted by one student.
- You may enter as an individual or as a team. All team members listed on the entry form must be high school students in the continental United States, in grades 9-12 (ages 19 and under). All teams will have a Team Captain. All team members must be listed on the entry form. Should your commercial be selected as a winning entry, the scholarship money would be divided evenly among all team members listed on the entry form. All team members must have a valid government-issued form of photo identification.
- A completed Consent Form is required for each and every individual involved with creating or producing the commercial, including any music and sound effects. This includes all team members, all on-camera actors, all voice-over announcers, individuals in photographs, music composers, sound effect creators, and musicians who have participated in any way. You will only be contacted and required to fill out and return the Consent Form if selected as a finalist, prior to your entry being sent for final judging, aired on television, or added to the Courageous Persuaders website. Every person involved in developing or producing the commercial submission must sign a Consent Form.
A. Failure to provide fully completed consent forms for all participants will result in disqualification. - A completed Work Cited page is required and must be completed under an MLA or APA format and submitted with the Consent Form if chosen as a finalist. This includes any photographs, researched facts, and statistics. Do not use any family photographs, published photographs, website photographs, or film footage without written permission from the owner or all people in the photograph/film footage. This includes footage of school activities and sporting events. Photos that appear on the Internet and in magazines usually have copyrights and cannot be used (all movie, video game and TV footage is protected, as are news photos and film footage). Any video or photographs submitted using images without signed permission of the video or photograph’s owner will be disqualified.
- No alcohol or otherwise illegal substances can be consumed or appear to be consumed during the making of your commercial. (Ex: You may dramatize the drinking of alcohol if you use a non-alcoholic beverage and cut the scene when the container reaches the lips of the actor. Nothing can be ingested.)
A. No “drinking games” are allowed in your video (i.e., Beer Pong). - All brand/company names and symbols/logos must be hidden or distorted.
A. I.e., businesses, high schools, universities, cemeteries, car companies, beverages, etc. Including trademarks or art, those on hats, shirts, and other items of clothing.
B. Do not use any distinguishable alcohol containers, even if the labels are removed. - Commercials must be acceptable for airing by television stations with a middle school aged audience; vulgar language and graphic content are not allowed.
- Commercials that contain dangerous stunts, unsafe driving, vomit or vomiting, or toilet scenes will be disqualified. (i.e., Drivers texting must be parked and will be disqualified if vehicle is moving)
- Do not include any phone numbers or web site addresses except for CourageousPersuaders.com. You may include your name and those of your team in the video as producers of the video, if you choose, although it is not necessary.
- You may not use images in your video of tombstones with legible names and dates on them unless you have written permission from the family of the deceased. Permission must be submitted with your entry. You may edit the names and dates by blurring or blacking them out.
- Videos submitted to the Courageous Persuaders competition will not be returned, and may be displayed, duplicated, edited, and exhibited for educational or promotional purposes as deemed appropriate by the Detroit Auto Dealers Association Education Foundation, Inc. Submission of the video constitutes your approval for such use and exhibition. We suggest you make a duplicate of your commercial for personal use.
- Any video that glamourizes or encourages drinking or other illegal activities will be disqualified.
- Courageous Persuaders has the sole discretion to determine eligibility of videos. Any dispute associated with a video submission will be determined at the sole discretion of the management of the DADA Education Foundation.
- Given the fluctuation in the number of entries each year, we are unable to determine the odds of winning.
Music, Audio, & Sound Effects
The only music and sound effects allowed on your entry must come from one of three sources:
- Courageous Persuaders Free-Use Music; Do not use any published music without permission of owners. This music is ONLY available for the Courageous Persuaders Competition. Any other use is in violation of US copyright laws.
- Garage Band Software, consistent with the Garage Band Software License Agreement
- Your own music you created and performed alone or with your team member.
Please Note: Other resources/websites for music or sound effects that may indicate “copyright-free” may not be completely and legally copyright-free; use of any music or sound effects from other so-called copyright-free websites will disqualify your entry. Option (3) above allows you to include work that is original to you. Everyone involved in composing and performing the music and sound effects must sign the Consent Form. You may not play anyone else’s music (i.e., “cover”) or use their sound effects unless that person is a team member who is available to sign the Consent Form. You may, however, use Garage Band as an element of your original music consistent with the Garage Band Software License Agreement. Do not use any other music, songs, or sound effects.
Courageous Persuaders Free-Use Music Rules
- Permission is granted for use in the Courageous Persuaders competition only.
- You are welcome to use our special Courageous Persuaders Free-Use Music, available exclusively to students producing commercials for this competition.
- On your submission, you must identify the music as “Courageous Persuaders Free-Use Music” and specify the track number you used.
- Email Brian Yessian with any questions: brian@yessian.com.
Access the music library:
NOTE: Please do not change the password, as this account needs to be accessed by all students.
Login here using the credentials below.
Once logged in. Click the Yessian Logo to return to the home page.
At the home page, navigate the menu bar and locate “Music Search”
-Or-
Once logged in. Click here to directly visit the “Music Search” page.
User ID: courageous@yessian.com
Password: CP1111