1999 Award Winners National Winner East Mid-West Central South West Group Award

Deanna Durrett is not easily intimidated. Even though her home state of Kentucky has the highest youth tobacco use rate in the nation, this extraordinary activist is determined to reverse the deadly trend. Her diligent work to combat tobacco addiction among youth and to educate her peers about the dangers of tobacco use has earned her the 1999 National Youth Advocate of the Year Award from the Washington, DC-based CAMPAIGN FOR TOBACCO-FREE KIDS.

Deanna certainly has her work cut out. In Kentucky, 47 percent of youth use tobacco products.

"Many people might look at the statistics and just think of it as a number," said Deanna, a 17-year-old 11th grader at Louisville's Sacred Heart Academy. "But for me, it means that one out of two of my friends is addicted to a lethal substance."

Living in the heart of tobacco country has made her task even more challenging. Deanna has to defend her tobacco control efforts to farmers who depend on tobacco for a living. Not everyone is receptive to her message.

"I've had politicians literally blow smoke in my face as I'm telling them about the dangers of tobacco," said Deanna.

She isn't letting the opposition stop her, though. Deanna has testified before the Kentucky House of Representatives' Health and Welfare Committee and lobbies regularly to gain support for stronger tobacco control policies. She has even taken her message to the White House, attending a rally with more than 1,000 other youth to call for comprehensive national tobacco control legislation, and participating in a roundtable discussion with Vice President Al Gore.

Deanna became active in tobacco control advocacy in 1995 after she won a letter writing contest for the Smoke-Free Class of 2000. She then attended the National Youth Forum on Tobacco in Washington, DC, where she met with her representatives in Congress and was one of only six participants selected to meet President Clinton. While at the forum, Deanna learned about Kentucky's dubious distinction as the state with the highest youth tobacco use. Back home, Deanna set out to lower that figure by educating her peers about the dangers of tobacco use and the ways in which tobacco ads manipulate teens. Her public education campaign includes television public service announcements and visits to elementary schools to teach children how to recognize lies in tobacco ads.

"We need to reach kids before the tobacco industry does and before peer pressure does," said Deanna. "The tobacco industry tells young people that they need to smoke to be cool or to fit in, and we need to counter that message before they pick up the first cigarette."

Deanna also works with the Alcohol Beverage Control Board to make tobacco less accessible to teens through "sting operations" at local stores. In addition, Deanna conducted her own undercover investigation of cigarette vending machines in community restaurants. She succeeded in purchasing cigarettes from the vending machines 100 percent of the time. Her efforts convinced several restaurants to remove the machines, but Deanna isn't stopping there. She continues to fight for a statewide ban on tobacco vending machines.

As a tobacco-control advocate, Deanna has been an active member of Kentucky ACTION (Alliance to Control Tobacco in Our Neighborhoods). She is the first teen to serve on the Executive Board of the American Lung Association's Kentucky chapter, and her work with the ALA earned her that organization's first youth Volunteer of the Year Award. Deanna also served as the 1998 South Regional Youth Advocate of the Year Award winner for the CAMPAIGN.

In her role as Youth Advocate of the Year, she will serve as a spokesperson for the CAMPAIGN at media events, share her views on tobacco control issues with both her peers and adults, work to increase awareness of the tobacco industry's insidious youth marketing tactics, and encourage kids across the country to take a stand against tobacco use in their communities.

"It would be much easier to just accept that tobacco is a part of life, but I can't do that when I see so many of my peers taking up a deadly habit," said Deanna. "The most important thing I can do is act as a leader and teach others how to have a voice in their communities."