1998 Award Winners National Winner East Mid-West Central South West Group Award

Michael Higgins, a 13-year-old 7th grader from Monroeville, New Jersey, is the East Region Winner of the CAMPAIGN FOR TOBACCO-FREE KIDS’ 1998 Youth Advocates of the Year Awards. The nationwide competition recognizes outstanding youth advocacy efforts by young tobacco control activists. Michael received his title in Washington, DC on April 30, 1998.

Michael has successfully lobbied for a local ordinance to ban vending machines in restaurants and shops in his town. Working with fellow tobacco control advocates in the Upper Pittsgrove Municipal Alliance, he helped draft the vending machine ordinance and argued for its passage. Not only did it succeed, the ordinance has since been used as a model for other towns throughout his county.

Michael frequently counsels his peers on tobacco use, and would like to see the enactment of national tobacco legislation that would save lives and jobs in tobacco-producing communities. He recently took part in a southern New Jersey gathering of middle school students opposed to tobacco use, which was sponsored by the New Jersey Assist Coalition, the National Cancer Institute and the New Jersey Division of the American Cancer Society.