SAN CLEMENTE, CA – Online voters have spoken and after battling more than 100
high schools throughout California, Santa Susana High School in Simi Valley wins
the grand prize, $20,000, in the GOT MILK? “Battle for Milkquarious, White Gold
Milkdonkulous Giveaway.” It is a contest sponsored by the California Milk
Processor Board (CMPB) — the creator of GOT MILK? — to encourage California
teenagers to get creative with their video-making skills for a chance to win
thousands of dollars for their public high schools’ art programs.
“The work of the students from Santa Susana showed a lot of ingenuity and
thousands of people rallied around their work to vote them in as the grand prize
winner,” says Steve James, executive director of the CMPB. “It is an amazing
feat, and the CMPB is proud to award the school with $20,000 that will further
encourage more students to participate in the arts.”
Santa Susana received close to 11,000 online votes. Students from the school
submitted a video entry after recreating the last of seven scenes from GOT
MILK?’s online rock opera titled “Battle for Milkquarious” (www.milkquarious.com).
The online 20-minute rock opera is intended to reach California teens with the
message of the health benefits of drinking milk for strong bones, muscles, hair,
teeth and nails. The rock opera chronicles White Gold’s quest to save his
hometown of Milkquarious from a potentially deadly milk shortage. The students
at Santa Susana acted out the scene using homemade props and creative video
editing.
The school that received the second most online votes is Pioneer Technical
Center in Madera, which will receive $10,000 for its live action entry. The
students acted out the second scene of the rock opera that tells the first
meeting of White Gold and his partner in crime, Jug Life, to save Milkquarious.
Besides live action entries, California teens used all kinds of medium such as
animation, clay and even legos to tell their stories surrounding the rock opera.
Aside the top two schools, GOT MILK? will also honor eight runners-up for their
efforts, each with $2,500:
Los Angeles Area
— Los Angeles County High School for the Arts in Los Angeles
— Los Angeles High School for the Arts (LAHSA) in Los Angeles
— Gardena High School in Gardena
San Francisco/Bay Area
— El Molino High School in Forestville
— Dublin High School in Dublin
— Santa Teresa High School in San Jose
Sacramento Area
— Marysville Charter Academy for the Arts in Marysville
San Diego Area
— San Dieguito High School Academy in Encinitas
GOT MILK? will hold a check presentation at each of the top 10 schools over the
next couple of weeks. Arts, music and drama programs are routinely the first
programs to be drastically reduced or eliminated in times of economic crisis.
Yet according to “Critical Evidence: How the Arts Benefit Student Achievement,”
students who take arts classes have higher math and verbal SAT scores than
students who take no arts classes.
Teenagers 14 to 18 who attend California public high schools were eligible to
enter the $50,000 “White Gold Milkdonkulous Giveaway” from Oct. 5 to Dec. 20,
2009. White Gold and celebrity judges, Owl City, Ozomatli, Electric 6, as well
as Jesse “Boots Electric” Hughes from Eagles of Death Metal, selected nine
finalists, with the tenth finalist decided by “people’s choice” through online
popular. To decide the grand prize winner out of the top 10, another online
public voting was held on www.milkquarious.com from Jan. 11 to Jan. 24, 2010.
First place receives $20,000 for that school’s arts program. Ten thousand
dollars will go to the second place school, and eight runners-up will each
receive $2,500 in funding for a grand total of $50,000 in cash prizes.
For more information on “Battle for Milkquarious” rock opera and the “White Gold
Milkdonkulous Giveaway,” visit
www.milkquarious.com.
About the CMPB
The California Milk Processor Board was established in 1993 to make milk more
competitive and increase milk consumption in California. Awareness of GOT MILK?
is over 90% nationally and it is considered one of the most important and
successful campaigns in history. GOT MILK? is a federally registered trademark
that has been licensed by the national dairy boards since 1995. The CMPB’s
Spanish-language campaign began in 1994 using the tagline “Familia, Amor y Leche”
(Family, Love and Milk). The TOMA LECHE (Drink Milk) campaign replaced it in
2006, following a growing trend in Hispanic food advertising that uses wit and
humor to reach audiences. GOT MILK? gifts and recipes can be viewed at
www.gotmilk.com and www.tomaleche.com. The CMPB is funded by all California milk
processors and administered by the California Department of Food and
Agriculture.