PSA

Get ready to make your voice heard! We're inviting all Texas youth in 6th-12th grade to enter the 2026 Youth School Safety PSA Contest to help create safer, healthier school communities. Whether you're passionate about supporting teen mental health, preventing substance use, or stopping violence before it starts, this is your chance to spread a powerful message that matters.

WHAT IS A PSA?

A Public Service Announcement (PSA) is a short message designed to raise awareness and motivate people to make safer, healthier choices. PSAs can start conversations, correct myths, and encourage students to look out for one another. You can create a PSA by yourself, with your friends, or your peers to show how students can build positive, safe spaces for everyone.

Recognition

  • Student/school recognition in the Texas School Safety Center Newsletter.
  • Student/school recognition at the Texas School Safety Conference in June 2026.
  • PSA available to all Texas public, private, and charter K-12 schools to use in their own school safety efforts.

Participation Rules

  • Open for Texas students in grades 6-12 who attend public, private, charter, or homeschool.
  • Participation can be as an individual or as a student team.
  • Adults can provide guidance and support in the development and filming of the PSA but should not take the lead.
  • Entries must be submitted by an adult (ex: parent, teacher, youth group sponsor, etc.).
Submit Your PSA Resources

Contest Categories

Videos must portray positive ways Texas youth can care for each other by creating safe and healthy schools. You can include crisis resources, but they should be state or national (ex: 988).

The video must address only one of the following school safety topics:

Mental Health

The video should address one or more of the following key focal points:

  • Recognizing Signs: Highlight warning signs that a friend, classmate, or peer may be struggling emotionally.
  • Healthy Coping Strategies: Share positive, healthy ways your peers can manage their stress, anxiety, and/or feeling overwhelmed.
  • The Power of Connection: Emphasize how community, friendship, and unity can protect and strengthen mental wellness.

Substance Use Prevention

The video should address one or more of the following key focal points:

  • Share the Facts: Educate your peers about the health effects of using substances like opioids/fentanyl, alcohol, prescriptions, marijuana/cannabis, and vaping.
  • Healthy Coping Strategies: Share positive ways to handle stress, peer pressure, or tough emotions without turning to substances.
  • Supporting Others to Quit: Depict how checking in, listening without judgment, and offering support can help a friend, classmate, or peer to quit.

Violence Prevention

The video should address one or more of the following key focal points:

  • The Power of Connection: Emphasize how building positive friendships, including others, and creating a supportive school environment can reduce violence and help everyone feel safer and valued.
  • Breaking the Stigma: Encourage open conversations about violence, bullying, and unhealthy behaviors. Remind your peers that speaking up about harm, whether it is happening to them or someone else, is a sign of strength.
  • Standing Up to Violence: Encourage your peers to be an upstander by reporting threats, discouraging fights, and supporting peers who are being mistreated online, in person, or in a relationship.
  • Healthy Conflict Skills: Share how your peers can manage disagreements without violence, such as walking away, using calm communication, setting boundaries, or seeking help before things escalate.

Campus Safety

The video should address one or more of the following key focal points:

  • Being Prepared: Share the importance of knowing school emergency procedures including lockdowns, evacuations, shelter-in-place, and drill expectations so your peers can stay calm and act quickly.
  • Responding to Intruders: Remind your peers to trust their instincts, follow adult directions during a lockdown, and avoid approaching strangers or trying to investigate on their own.
  • Reporting Concerns: Emphasize that your peers should report threats, concerning posts, suspicious activity, or safety issues to a trusted adult or through the school's reporting system. Reporting is about protecting the whole community.
  • Accessing Help: Inform your peers that teachers, administrators, counselors, school resource officers, or anonymous reporting tools are the best ways to report if they feel unsafe or have concerns.

Contest Guidelines

Videos must portray positive ways Texas youth can care for each other by creating safe and healthy schools. You can include crisis resources, but they should be state or national (ex: 988).

Submission Guidelines

Participating students must upload their entry before 5:00 p.m. CST Friday, May 1, 2026 with the required documents. TxSSC is not responsible for errors with uploading entries.

Students are encouraged to submit their videos early to avoid being disqualified due to uploading errors. Late entries will not be accepted. Videos submitted with incomplete information may be disqualified.

TxSSC owns all submitted videos. Winners and their parents or guardians agree to the use of the winners’ names and likenesses to promote the Youth School Safety Program and future video contests.

Additional guidelines include:

  • Video must be original work created by the student(s). The use of AI is not allowed.
  • Only one entry per individual or group will be accepted. If multiple submissions are entered, the first entry will be accepted.
  • You must submit all signed video releases, a registration form and video file. Only one registration form needs to be submitted.
  • All visual and audio content must be original and royalty free (not copyrighted), or written permission from the copyright holder granting use of the copyrighted material.
  • The video MUST include the tagline "Stand up. Speak up. Create safe and healthy schools." expressed verbally or by using the Knowledge Empowers Youth Safety (KEYS) logo.
Download KEYS Logo Submit Your PSA

Filming Guidelines

  • Must be a video PSA
  • Video Length: 30-60 seconds (excluding credits)
  • Format: MP4 or .mov
  • File Size Limit: 100mb
  • Orientation: Horizontal (wide), like a movie screen
  • DO NOT include any identifying information such as your name, school name, logos, or other school branding of any kind.
  • DO NOT depict the use of drugs, vaping, or drinking. Do not depict violence. Do not use graphic or triggering content.
  • Use respectful and stigma-free language. Use basic language that everyone can understand.
  • Film the PSA in good lighting and make sure the audio is clear and can be heard.
  • Be creative and use universal messaging that is memorable.
  • If your video includes multiple people, each person MUST sign the video release form.
Video Release Form

Judging Criteria

The entries will be divided into two age groups, middle school and high school. TxSSC staff, TxSSC Board of Directors, and the Texas School Safety Teen Ambassadors will judge the videos to determine the winners. Notification will be made by May 29, 2026. Entries will be evaluated based on:

  • Ability to gain the viewer's attention and make a lasting impression.
  • Inclusion of the slogan "Stand up. Speak up. Create safe and healthy schools." either expressed verbally or with the logos provided.
  • Accuracy of the topic selected and relevance to school safety.
  • Quality of creativity, persuasiveness, clarity, and overall visual and audio production quality.
  • How well it conveys positive ways Texas youth can care for each other by creating safe and healthy schools.
Submit Your PSA Resources