1998 Award Winners National Winner East Mid-West Central South West Group Award

Amanda Tunnell, a 16-year-old 10th grader from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, is the Central Region Winner of the CAMPAIGN FOR TOBACCO-FREE KIDS’ 1998 Youth Advocates of the Year Awards. The nationwide competition recognizes outstanding youth advocacy efforts by young tobacco control activists. Amanda received her title in Washington, DC on April 30, 1998.

Amanda has aggressively lobbied the Oklahoma state Legislature and played a major role in ensuring passage of a bill for the licensing of tobacco retailers; the legislation calls for stiff fines for those caught selling tobacco to minors. She has also done her own survey to determine how many local restaurants are smoke-free, provide divided or undivided smoking areas, and contain youth-accessible, unsupervised cigarette vending machines. Amanda is a voting member of the Tobacco-Free Oklahoma Coalition Executive Committee.

Amanda has earned much recognition for her initiative and dedication to tobacco control efforts. At 14, she became the youngest person ever to receive the American Lung Association’s 1996 Dr. Edward Munnell Award for her role in peer education. In 1997, she was named "Outstanding Youth Prevention Volunteer" by the Tobacco-Free Oklahoma Coalition.