he Youth Advocates of the Year Awards honor top youth advocates from around the country -- youth who have fought hard to promote tobacco prevention legislation in their home states, to reduce tobacco marketing to kids in their communities and to stop their peers from using tobacco. The Campaign for Tobacco-Free kids provides a $5,000 scholarship for the national youth winner, $2,500 scholarships for each regional winner, and $2,000 for the international grant winner. The winners received their scholarships and grants at a gala in Washington, D.C. and attended our second annual Youth Advocacy Symposium. Close to thirty past and present award winners and finalists worked together throughout the week at advocacy events and various trainings, including workshops on media strategy, public speaking, and youth empowerment.

EAST
Ashley Sobrinski, Seaville, NJ, Sophomore

Ashley has been a member of Ocean City SCAT (Student Coalition Against Tobacco) and NJ REBEL (Reaching Everyone by Exposing Lies) for the past four years. She sits on SCAT's executive board as treasurer, and is the chairperson of their FDA Promotion Committee, which advocates for legislation to give the U.S. Food and Drug Administration authority to regulate tobacco. Ashley also founded S.E.A. (Smoking Education and Awareness), an educational program for elementary school students.

Over the past year, Ashley led a Smoke-Free Boardwalk Campaign. She crafted message points on public health, fire safety and property damage issues, and worked closely with local fire departments to educate the public about a series of boardwalk fires caused by cigarettes that led to millions of dollars in damages. Her efforts led to the passage of an ordinance for a virtually smoke-free Ocean City Boardwalk. Ashley's most recent campaign has been working towards a smoke-free Cape May County Zoo where her efforts have produced a resolution in favor of this endeavor.

CENTRAL
Kelsey Hills-Evans, Boulder, CO, Junior

Kelsey serves on Get R!EAL's Leadership Committee and as a youth spokesperson for the Colorado youth movement. Kelsey also is a member of her community coalition, the Alliance of Boulder County on Tobacco and Health, where she helped to pass a Clean Indoor Air Act in Louisville, CO.

Kelsey and Get R!EAL are most notorious for traveling to the Winter X Games in Aspen to protest Lorillard's sponsorship of the event. Over forty youth advocates arrived at the mountain wearing sweatshirts that read "Big Tobacco, we don't buy it," and handed out fliers to educate the crowd about the sponsorship and the tobacco industry's history of targeting kids.

This February Kelsey organized Get R!EAL members to participate in the national call-in day to Secretary of Health Tommy Thompson's office to encourage U.S. support of the World Health Organization's Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC). The Denver-metro area generated more calls than any U.S. state.

SOUTH
Ritney Castine, Napoleonville, LA, Junior

Ritney Castine was a founding member of Peers Against Tobacco in Assumption Parish, Louisiana. Ritney has since served as its president for two years, and is taking the group state-wide as it becomes Louisiana’s official youth anti-tobacco movement. Ritney has been working with advocates across the state to repeal preemption and return local control to cities and towns, allowing them to implement Clean Indoor Air policies. On April 2, Ritney helped to organize hundreds of students at the state capital for Kick Butts Day to participate in a youth rally calling for the repeal of preemption. Members of Peers Against Tobacco also met with state legislators to deliver this message, and their town’s resolutions, in person.

Ritney has been recognized by Louisiana Attorney General Richard P. Ieyoub as the 2002 Louisiana Youth Advocate of the Year, as well as by the state Office of Public Health with its Youth Advocate of the Year Award in both 2001 and 2002.

WEST
Juanita Recinos, San Francisco, CA, Junior

Juanita has been an active member of the Youth Community Health Organizing Project (Yoco-Hop) for almost four years. She often acts as a spokesperson for the group and represented them at the 3rd World Conference on Tobacco or Health in Chicago, Illinois.

Juanita led members of Yoco-Hop in their efforts to pass the Commercial Free Schools Act for all San Francisco public schools. The act began as a ban on the sale and advertisement of tobacco company subsidiary products on school grounds. It expanded and now also prohibits all vendor contracts and brand name products from being sold in San Francisco public schools. Juanita is currently working to enforce the ban and educate schools across the city about the act's provisions.

Juanita also works closely with the San Francisco Tobacco-Free Coalition on a global partnership with a buddy group in El Salvador that has resulted in the passage of a Clean Indoor Air act in San Miguel, El Salvador.

INTERNATIONAL GRANT
Meghan Pasricha, Hockessin, DE, Junior

Meghan is the state president elect and a council member of Delaware’s Kick Butts Generation (KBG), the state-wide youth anti-tobacco movement. She is also the founder and president of the Sanford School’s Anti-Tobacco Action Club (ATAC). Meghan has been extremely active in the fight against Big Tobacco, and has helped her state pass one of the strongest Clean Indoor Air policies in the country.

Meghan also is a leader in the tobacco control community abroad. She successfully organized and conducted several training sessions for Indian Youth Leaders during a trip last summer to Mhow, India. Utilizing her Hindi language skills, she adapted a multi-media awareness program she had personally developed, and worked with the Indian Youth Leaders to develop presentations for both rural and urban Indian audiences. Since Meghan’s trainings, the Indian Youth Leaders have educated over 1,500 people about the dangers of tobacco.

Meghan is also proficient in Spanish and is preparing to launch a KBG chapter in Mexico. Meghan plans to develop a website that will provide a forum for creating a global youth anti-tobacco advocacy network.

GROUP
XPOZ, Las Vegas, NV

XPOZ (pronounced “expose”) was launched in 2000 by 29 youth advocates in Las Vegas. In 2001, they held their first summit, the Kick Ash Bash, with 300 youth from across the state. Since then the movement has grown to over 2,500 Nevada teens. In two years they have helped reduce the Clark County youth smoking rate from 33 percent to 25 percent, in a state that the CDC has recognized as suffering from the highest levels of tobacco-related disease and death in the country.

XPOZ has been leading the way in the fight to repeal preemption in Nevada. They have brought attention to the preemption battle through extensive media outreach, including a youth-created commercial calling for its repeal. Until preemption occurs, they are encouraging the adoption of voluntary smoke-free policies in local communities.

The Nevada Tobacco Prevention Coalition recognized XPOZ with its Award for Excellence in Tobacco Prevention in both 2000 and 2001. XPOZ also has been honored with the Youth Leadership Las Vegas Appreciation Award in 2001 and the Clark County Public Health Hero Award in 2002.

NATIONAL
Walter Kerr, East Haddam, CT, Junior

Walter is a founding member of STATIC, Students Teaching Against Tobacco, in Connecticut. He currently serves as the vice-chair of legislation, leading all youth initiatives relating to policy work and developing STATIC’s goals and strategies for each legislative session.

Walter often testifies before his state legislature and speaks at rallies and youth summits. He has mobilized hundreds of Connecticut teens to speak out against the tobacco industry and voice their support for strong tobacco prevention policies. He also has worked closely with the MATCH (Mobilize Against Tobacco for Children’s Health) coalition as a project assistant. The coalition recognized Walter as their Advocate of the Year for 2002.

On Kick Butts Day 2003 Walter organized over 1,000 students to participate in a rally at the state capital, followed by a youth lobby day. He has also advocated for an excise taxes increase, smoke-free college campuses, and preemption repeal, which is currently his top priority.

Most importantly, Walter’s efforts have seen results. He and other members of STATIC helped to pass a 61-cent excise tax increase, the first in twelve years, and state college dormitories are now smoke free. He has been recognized for his efforts by Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, Senator Chris Dodd and Congressman Rob Simmons.

Walter was selected by the Connecticut Department of Health to participate at the 2002 National Conference on Tobacco or Health. He plans on presenting at the 2003 national conference in nearby Boston and hopes to use this as an opportunity to promote youth tobacco control efforts at the national level. Walter also is involved in laying the foundation for Ignite, a national coalition of tobacco control activists founded by the Campaign’s Youth Advocates of the Year.