Billboard design contest winners say no to smoking

Two talented 14-year-olds have created art destined for high places.

Janal Jansma of North Highlands and Jerreht Harris of Roseville crafted anti-smoking ads that will be featured on billboards overlooking busy roads and streets throughout greater Sacramento.

Their separate designs were the top winners in the 15th annual anti-tobacco billboard design contest sponsored by Kaiser Permanente, it was announced last week.

More than 8,300 students from Sacramento, Placer and Yolo counties entered this year's contest, the goal of which is to persuade teens not to light up.

"I never would have guessed that I would have won," said Jansma, a freshman at Highlands Academy of Arts and Design. "I'm very proud of myself."

She was the high school grand-prize winner with her depiction of an empty pack of cigarettes next to the warning: "There's NO prize in this box."

Harris, an eighth-grader at Warren T. Eich Intermediate School in Roseville, finished first in the middle school category.

His entry shows two snuffed-out cigarettes with the legend: "Don't get me started."

Harris said he felt "excitement and relief" when he learned he'd won.

"It was my first contest win, and it was a big win," he said. "I was really appreciative that they picked my entry."

Participants in this year's competition attend nearly 80 middle and high schools in the three-county area.

The winning ads, chosen by a jury, were enhanced by a professional graphic designer for placement on 36 billboards, starting this month, Kaiser officials said.

"Each year in the United States, about 440,000 people die as a result of smoking," Dr. Rick Baker, Kaiser Permanente's chief of health education in Sacramento and Roseville, said in a statement. "If we can help prevent young people from using tobacco products early on, we have a good chance of keeping them tobacco-free throughout their lifetimes."

Baker said the ads fashioned by Jansma and Harris will be viewed by an estimated 800,000 people daily during the two months they will be on display.

"A billboard is an important way to get the message out," he said. "The short, direct message is what makes it more powerful, and having the message come from a teen" makes it truly special.

Jansma sketched her entry with color pens and markers.

"I was in a health class at the academy, thinking of ideas," she said. "I was thinking of anything to do with cigarettes, when it just came to me."

With the words, "There's NO prize in this box," her winning entry warns that, unlike cereal boxes or Cracker Jack containers, cigarette packs don't come with tiny toys inside.

"Hopefully, youths who see the billboard will understand the message, and it will persuade them not to smoke," Jansma said. "That's what I'm hoping for."

Jansma said she herself "plans on never smoking in my life."

"I can't handle the smell of cigarettes," she said. "It disgusts me, and after seeing all of the effects, it doesn't seem worth it.

"I'll try everything never to have a cigarette."

Along with her name, her 18 billboards will contain the name of her academy plus its district, the Grant Joint Union High School District.

Harris' entry was prepared with colored pencils and inspired by one of his mother's favorite admonishments.

"When my mom comes home and is upset or tired, she always tells me, 'Don't get me started,' " Harris said. "And she says the same thing when I do something wrong.

"So I just thought smoking is a bad habit, and don't get me started," he said.

Smoking is horrid, according to Harris, who said the habit shortened the life span of two of his grandparents.

He hopes his billboard will convince young people that "if you haven't started, don't start."

Harris himself has "never tried smoking."

His 18 billboards will bear his name, along with the name of his school and its district, the Roseville City School District.

As the top winners, Harris and Jansma each received a $1,000 savings bond.

About the writer:

• Call The Bee's Edgar Sanchez, (916) 321-1088.