Youth groups across the country compete in Irish Cancer Society’s national X-HALE awards

More than 40 youth clubs from around the country are calling on their local communities for support ahead of the Irish Cancer Society’s national X-HALE Youth Awards 2018 in July.

The groups are asking people to log on to cancer.ie/xhale2018 and watch their short films about being ‘smoke free’. The film with the most views between now and 4 July will win the public vote and a national award as part of the X-HALE Short Film Competition 2018.

X-HALE is an initiative of the Irish Cancer Society that supports young people to tackle smoking in their communities and raise awareness about the dangers of smoking among their peers.

The X-HALE Youth Awards national showcase event in the Helix, Dublin on 5 July will be the finale of months of hard work by 43 youth groups. In addition to promoting their films online, they will also be running campaigns to drum up local support by putting up posters, organising screenings of their films and taking part in radio interviews.

This is the eighth year of the X-HALE Youth Awards and this year participating groups also had the opportunity to have their say on how young people can become more involved in making the tobacco free generation a reality. A number of groups attended a workshop and the Tobacco Free Ireland Partners’ Conference on World No Tobacco Day (31 May).

Sarah Chadwick, Cancer Prevention Officer at the Irish Cancer Society said, “We are so proud of everything that the young people have achieved. They have educated themselves about smoking, learned new skills and worked together to create films that will inform and inspire young people across Ireland and beyond. They are leading the way in the movement towards a tobacco free Ireland and improving the health of their local communities. We commend their commitment to establishing Ireland’s first smoke free generation and are asking the public to show their support by watching and sharing the X-HALE 2018 playlist.”

For further information about X-HALE and to watch the entries visit cancer.ie/xhale. Follow www.facebook.com/XHaleYouthAwards and join the X-HALE conversation using #xhale2018.