Group of Philly teens win $5,000 prize in anti-gun violence social media campaign

A group of Philadelphia teens affected by gun violence were selected as the winners of a social media campaign aimed at preventing shootings and keeping weapons out of the hands of young people.

The teens, members of YEAH Philly, a West Philadelphia-based violence reduction program, were one of four groups on Monday who participated in a contest through Project Unloaded, a national organization working to increase gun safety awareness among teens and young adults.

The winning group created a series of short videos, titled “Guns change our stories,” that focused on how shootings have infiltrated everyday life in Philadelphia, from community basketball games to cookouts, and the symptoms of long-term trauma, like anxiety and sleeplessness, that come with the violence.

“It follows you to your sleep,” said 18-year-old Presley Barner, one of the five YEAH Philly teens who created the videos.

» READ MORE: Forever Young: Twenty-four children were killed in shootings last year in Philadelphia. These are their stories.

The team will be awarded $5,000 and young people across the country could soon see YEAH Philly’s work pop up in their social media feeds.

The contest was part of Project Unloaded’s ongoing work to educate young people on the dangers of firearms and inspire them not to own or use guns. Its first social media campaign, launched in 2022, was called “You SNUG?” an acronym for “safer not using guns.”

The second, piloted in December out of Chicago, was “Guns change the story,” a Mad Libs-inspired collection of short videos geared toward Black and Latino teens. Their campaigns have reached more than 3 million teens since 2022, said Nina Vinik, founder of Project Unloaded.

The project came to Philadelphia this summer in hopes that if young people are spreading the message, their peers will be more receptive to changing their habits.

» READ MORE: At 15, she started an Instagram page to honor Philly’s gun violence victims. Then, her brother became one.

“This has to be a peer-to-peer approach,” Vinik said. “We’ve seen time and time again that top-down doesn’t work.”

This contest was specific to Philadelphia teens, but will soon visit other cities across the U.S., including Sacramento, Vinik said.

Alongside YEAH Philly were groups from Masterman High School, CHOP’s Community Violence and Trauma Support Program, and Unity in the Community, a South Philly-based anti-violence program. Their presentations, some of which included spoken word poems, touched on everything from the pain of losing parents to shootings, to providing teens with access to mental health services.

Each team was awarded $2,500 for participating. The winner receives an additional $2,500. YEAH Philly was selected by a panel of judges, which included officials from the city, school district, and local law enforcement.

» READ MORE: An 8-year-old shot in the head on her way home from school shows what’s at stake in Kensington

Guns are the leading cause of death for children and teens in America, and in Philadelphia, juveniles 17 and younger are making up a greater portion of the city’s shooting victims. In 2019, children made up only 8% of the people shot in the city. So far this year, that number is up to 13%, data show.

Black children are disproportionately affected. Last year, 24 children were killed by gunfire in Philadelphia and every victim was a child of color.

Eighty-eight kids have been shot in the city so far this year, the youngest just seven months old. Eleven have died.