PSAid Contest Engages College Students to Educate on Best Ways to Help Surrounding International Disaster

The USAID Center for International Disaster Information (CIDI) is pleased to announce the winners of the 13th annual Public Service Announcements for International Disasters contest (PSAid).

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PSAid is a nationwide contest that calls on college students across the country to submit public service announcement (PSA) entries that demonstrate why monetary donations are the most effective way to support international disaster relief. Through the contest, students learn donations best practices and help to convey why “Cash Is Best” in helping aid groups respond to disasters.

This year’s winning entries were chosen from a pool of submissions from nearly 160 college students in the categories of broadcast, print and infographic PSAs. Universities played a key role in PSAid, with some professors incorporating the contest into their curricula and several classrooms participating in webinars with CIDI staff. The winning PSAs will be distributed to broadcast television, print and online media outlets nationwide.

The 2018 PSAid winners are:

Broadcast

1. “Cash is Best” by Quincy Reams, Arizona State University

2. “Cash Knows Best” by Kaitlyn Boyd, Arizona State University

3. “George Thinks Cash is Best” by Paulina Adame and Omar Mota, Arizona State University

Print

1. “Be the Change” by Madeline Stoiber, Sierra Pennala, Brittany Barron, Jocelyn Chubb, and Kallie Kouvelis, Columbia College Chicago

2. “Cash Can Be Anything” by Logan Payne, Arizona State University

3. “When Disasters Strike, Cash is Best” by Veronica Gomez, Arizona State University

Infographic

1. “Your Two Cents” by Abby Cronin, University of Florida

2. "Clothes Are Not One Size Fits All…" by Katie Moston, Anna Loncar, and Taylor Silva, University of Alabama

3. “Don’t Limit Change” by Stephanie Fernandez, Martin Mederos, Crystal Rodriguez, and Ariese Bernard, Florida International University

The 2018 contest entries were judged by a panel of experts from the humanitarian and communications fields. This year’s judges were Carol Chan, Acting Director, USAID’s Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance; Julie Duffy, Senior Vice President, Global Communications, Hasbro, Inc.; Greg Hitt, Vice President, Global Corporate Communications, Walmart; Jeff Joseph, Founder, Starlight Public Affairs, and former Senior Vice President, Communications, for the Consumer Technology Association; and Janet Thomas, Design and Branding Consultant and former Creative and Branding Director for Ogilvy PR.

The winners may be viewed on the contest website at www.PSAid.org.

About USAID CIDI

USAID CIDI was created in 1988 by the United States Agency for International Development Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance to inform the public about the advantages of giving monetary donations to relief organizations and warn about the risks of donating unsolicited material goods. Through its “cash is best” messaging, CIDI’s goal is to support donors and relief agencies as they work to provide quick, effective and efficient relief to people affected by disasters. CIDI provides donations guidance to individuals, groups, embassies, businesses and corporations. For more information about USAID CIDI and helping international disaster survivors, please visit USAID CIDI at www.cidi.org.

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