SILVER SPRING, Md.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Toyota and Discovery Education today announced the top ten finalists for the Toyota Teen Driver Video Challenge. Now in its second year, the contest challenges teens across the country to create two-minute videos to inspire their friends to drive more safely and avoid distractions. The contest is part of Toyota Teen Driver, a joint education program by Toyota and Discovery Education, to help teen drivers stay safe. While cars today are safer than ever, motor vehicle accidents are the leading cause of death among teens in the U.S.[1]
“At Toyota, we have a longstanding commitment to teen safety so we are very proud to support the Toyota Teen Driver Video Challenge,” said Patricia Salas Pineda, group vice president, National Philanthropy and the Toyota USA Foundation. “We were blown away by how creative, thought-provoking and even humorous this year’s submissions were and are inspired that so many teens are taking a leadership role in promoting safety to their friends.”
“Discovery Education is proud to be a part of a program that is finding ways to get teens actively involved in safer driving,” said Mary Rollins, Vice President of Discovery Education. “Each of these ten videos is a representation of the value found in programs that bring students, educators and families together to create a national conversation about a real problem.”
For the next two weeks, the public can visit toyotateendriver.discoveryeducation.com/vote.cfm to view the finalists and vote for their favorite. The teen who garners the most votes will receive a $15,000 scholarship and will work with a Discovery film crew to re-shoot their video as a professional, TV-ready PSA. The teens who secure the second and third most votes will work with Discovery to re-shoot their videos as well.
In addition to sponsoring the Video Challenge each year, Toyota Teen Driver provides educators, parents and students with free online resources to help teens to become safer drivers, including curriculum, parent coaching guides, and take-home activities to initiate important conversations about the life-changing choices that teens can make behind the wheel. For more information on Toyota Teen Driver, visit www.toyotateendriver.com.
The Toyota Teen Driver Video Challenge is the latest initiative from Toyota that is designed to help keep teens safe on the road. Toyota Driving Expectations (www.toyotadrivingexpectations.com) provides hands-on, real world defensive driving courses that go far beyond what is taught in standard driver education courses, while The Toyota Collaborative Safety Research Center(www.toyota.com/csrc) works with leading North American Universities, hospitals, research institutions and agencies on research designed to better understand teen drivers’ risks and behaviors and identify effective recommendations to help keep them safe.
About Toyota
Toyota (NYSE: TM) established operations in the United States in 1957 and currently operates 10 manufacturing plants. Toyota directly employs over 31,000 in the United States and its investment here is currently valued at more than $19.5 billion, including sales and manufacturing operations, research and development, financial services and design.
Toyota is committed to being a good corporate citizen in the communities where it does business and believes in supporting programs with long-term sustainable results. Toyota supports numerous organizations across the country, focusing on education, the environment and safety. To date, Toyota has contributed nearly $700 million to philanthropic programs in the United States.
For more information on Toyota's commitment to improving communities nationwide, visit http://www.toyota.com/philanthropy.
About Discovery Education
Discovery Education partners with districts, states and like-minded organizations around the world to transform teaching and learning with innovative content and services that support educators and accelerate academic achievement. With a presence in over half of all US schools and in 50 countries around the world, Discovery Education fuels educational transformation with award-winning multimedia content including digital textbooks, professional development, assessment tools, and the largest professional learning community of its kind. Powered by Discovery Communications (NASDAQ: DISCA, DISCB, DISCK), the number one nonfiction media company in the world, Discovery Education is the global leader in standards-based digital content for K-12 and community college instruction. Explore the future of education at www.discoveryeducation.com.
1 The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention