Now that National Radon Action Month (NRAM) has come to a close, we are very eager to hear about your outreach and experiences in greater detail. We want you to Share Your Story from NRAM 2010, and sharing your story couldn’t be easier! Just visit www.radonleaders.org/nram/share and tell us about your experience. The stories we receive will be featured right here in the RadonLeaders.org InFocus. Stories may also appear on EPA's National Radon Action Month website and in outreach materials along with other success stories.

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. - State officials have launched a video contest encouraging high school students to talk about the hazards of radon.

The Illinois Emergency Management Agency launched the "2010 Illinois High School Radon Video Contest" this week.

To enter, students must submit one-minute YouTube videos about the radioactive gas that contributes to more than 1,000 lung cancer deaths in Illinois each year.

IEMA director Andrew Valasquez says the contest is a creative way for reaching more people with that message.

The winner's school will get a $2,000 prize to be used for extracurricular activities and the winning student will get $1,000. January is Radon Action Month.

Original Post

IEMA, ALA-IL Launch Teen Video Contest during Radon Action Month
High school students encouraged to create YouTube video promoting awareness of radon health hazards

SPRINGFIELD – Seeking an innovative way to spread the message about radon’s health hazards, the Illinois Emergency Management Agency (IEMA) and the American Lung Association in Illinois (ALA-IL) today launched the “2010 Illinois High School Radon Video Contest.” The agencies are encouraging high school students throughout the state to create 60-second YouTube videos about radon, a radioactive gas that causes an estimated 1,100 lung cancer deaths in Illinois each year.

The video contest highlights activities in Illinois during Radon Action Month in January. Other organizations supporting the video contest include the University of Illinois Extension Office, Respiratory Health Association of Metropolitan Chicago and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) Region 5.

In this InFocus we update you on what’s happening in the radon community and on RadonLeaders.org.

Stakeholder Meetings: Connecting & Sharing Resources

There have been several radon stakeholder meetings this spring. We want to briefly update you on these meetings, and to share tools and resources that have come from them.

2009 National Radon Action Month Results Are In! Submit Your Feedback by May 4

The results for the 2009 National Radon Action Month are now available! Provide feedback about your involvement in the 2009 National Radon Action Month by May 4!

In an effort to reduce the number of lives lost to radon-induced lung cancer, state programs, radon professionals, schools, and partner organizations across the country worked together in 2009 to raise radon awareness. You reported a total of 1,874 events and activities – nearly two times higher than the number of submissions in 2008; and compared with 2007, more than eleven times higher. Wow!

Growing RadonLeaders.org

RadonLeaders.org now boasts almost 400 members in the mere four months since its launch at the national radon meetings in Las Vegas, September 2008. Help build the RadonLeaders.org community by asking three colleagues to join today! Direct them to www.radonleaders.org/user/register.

A Record Breaking National Radon Action Month 2009

WASHINGTON, Jan. 28 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The National Safety Council's Radon Awards Ceremony, held tonight at the National Press Club, will recognize individuals and organizations for their contributions to reducing deaths from radon. Radon, a colorless, odorless and tasteless natural gas, is our nation's second leading cause of lung cancer, after smoking. Radon is linked to about 21,000 cancer deaths each year. It is estimated that residents of one in every 15 homes are exposed to unsafe levels of radon.

At tonight's ceremony, National Safety Council president and CEO Janet Froetscher will deliver opening remarks and award the winners of the NSC's 2009 National Radon Poster Contest, recognizing young people for their artistic efforts to educate the public about the importance of testing for radon. 2009 poster contest winners include:

1st place: Shana Stone, age 10, grade 6, Good Hope, Ga.
2nd place: Raquel Goldman, age 13, grade 8, Hollywood, Fla.