Tobacco Prevention

About the Be Smart–Don't Start! Storyboard Contest

Be Smart–Don't Start! is a drawing and writing contest in which students in kindergarten through fifth grade can create an idea for a commercial showing why people should never use tobacco.

Congratulations to the 2011 winners. Click on the student's name to view their entry.

Eastern Oklahoma Grand Prize
Katie Stephenson  from Maryetta School

Western Oklahoma Grand Prize
Joshua L. Hill  from Surrey Hills Elementary

Additional Winners:

The two grand-prize winners received $100 and had their creations animated into 30-second commercials featuring their own artwork and voices. The commercials will be distributed to television stations, posted on multiple Web sites and promoted across the state. First-, second- and third-place winners will receive $75, $50 and $25 respectively. All winners, along with their parents and teachers, will be invited to an awards celebration at the State Capitol. Plus, sponsoring adults of the winning students will receive a gift certificate.

Questions? Call (866) 876-4376 or email BeSmart@hcsc.net.

View the 2010 winning storyboards.

This contest is brought to you by Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Oklahoma, the American Lung Association , Plains-Gulf region, the Oklahoma State Department of Education , the Oklahoma State Department of Health  and the Oklahoma Asthma Initiative .

Blaze, the Braggin' Dragon

I'm Blaze the Braggin' Blue Dragon, and I'm not like other dragons. I don't smoke or use tobacco. I eat right, get plenty of exercise and feel great. Kids, you can, too! Be a braggin' dragon like me. Live healthy, and live longer. It's fun to be a dragon, especially a healthy one. Too bad most dragons aren't healthy. Do you know why? A lot of dragons smoke and eat bad foods. Some dragons also play too many video games instead of playing outside and riding bikes, which makes them too heavy to fly.

Be healthy – don't smoke.

Smoking cigarettes hurts your lungs and can make you and the people around you sick. Cigarettes are expensive, have poisons in them and contain an addictive drug called nicotine. You can be a hero and never start smoking.

Did you know?

• There are more than 4,000 chemicals in cigarette smoke (including: formaldehyde, butane, arsenic, ammonia, acetone, carbon monoxide and cadmium). 200 of these chemicals are poisons, and 43 of the chemicals cause cancer.
• It's hard to stop smoking once you start because of a drug in cigarettes called nicotine. The body gets addicted to, or “hooked” on nicotine.
• Tobacco is a waste of money.

Also, did you know that tobacco causes:

• Shortness of breath
• Yellow teeth
• Stroke
• Asthma
• Smelly hair
• Stinky clothes
• Heart disease
• Wrinkles
• Coughing
• Lung cancer
• Death
• Addiction
• Emphysema
• Bad breath

View the Blaze coloring page .