SALEM — Teams of students at Hermiston and McLoughlin high schools were among the top prize winners in a media contest to increase awareness about workplace safety and health for young workers.

The Oregon Young Employee Safety Coalition — or O[yes] — organized the annual contest that invites high school students across Oregon to participate, according to a news release from the Oregon Department of Consumer & Business Services.

In its 16th year of putting a spotlight on the importance of young worker safety and health, the 2023-24 media contest challenged participants to create an ad — through either a compelling graphic design or video — that captures their peers’ attention and convinces them to take the O[yes] Young Employee Safety Awareness online training.

The Hermiston High team won first place in graphic design with “Don’t Burn Yourself Out.” and the McLoughlin High on Milton-Freewater team took a second place in the video category.

According to the Department of Consumer & Business Services, the creative possibilities were multifaceted, Participants chose the key message, theme or tagline they believed would attract their audience and move it to act. Participants were asked to submit either a graphic design or a video that was no more than 90 seconds long.

“Teams of students met the challenge with smart and positive media projects,” the news release stated. “In attention-grabbing videos and artful graphic designs, students called attention to everything from workplace stress to worker rights on the job. Their projects stayed laser-focused on convincing their target audience — teen workers or teens who are preparing to work for the first time — to take the O[yes] Young Employee Safety Awareness online training to improve their knowledge of how to stay safe and healthy in the workplace.”

The top winners in each category were:

Graphic design

First place: Hermiston High School, “Don’t Burn Yourself Out” ($500).

Second place: Henley High School, “Safety is a Full-Time Job” ($400).

Third place: Henley High School, “Ensure Your Safety” ($300).

Video

First place: Silverton High School, “Saying Yes” ($500).

Second: Parkrose High School, “The Office Ordeal” ($400); McLoughlin High School, “On the Job Lessons” ($400).

Third: Crescent Valley High School, “Do Not Touch” ($300).

Finalists: Lincoln High School, “Choose O[YES]” and Nyssa High School, “Out of the Woods.”

Finalists: Henley High School, “O[yes] Poster,” Beaverton High School, “Shaping Safe Workplaces,” Hermiston High School, “Safety Awareness,” Hermiston High School, “Safety in the Workplace,” Henley High School, “Teen Safety Poster.”

The first-place teams in each category also earned a matching award for their schools.

You can view the winning submissions on the O[yes] website, shorturl.at/yK016, where there also are videos of the contestants discussing their media projects.

The mission of O[yes] is to prevent injuries and illnesses and promote well-being to young workers. The nonprofit does this through outreach, advocacy and sharing resources with young workers, educators, employers, parents, and labor organizations.

The 2023-24 contest sponsors were the Oregon chapters of the American Association of Safety Professionals, Construction Safety Summit, Central Oregon Safety and Health Association, Hoffman Construction, Oregon Health & Sciences University, Oregon OSHA, Oregon SHARP Alliance, SafeBuild Alliance and SAIF.