Ground Zero Youth Competition

A collaboration of music groups, skateboard event organizers and youth leaders in the community will be hosting an Instagram contest with live events for Redlands teens that include giveaway prizes of iPod shuffles, iTunes cards, In-N-Out cards and more. Local music artists Roxie Jane and NickdoG will be the emcees for the five events in 2015 and be presenting the prizes for Instagram winners. Participants ages are to be between 13 to 18 and can enter the contest by simply taking a picture of their feet on the ground somewhere in Redlands and hashtagging it with #groundzeroredlands. "Recognizable ground floors like State Street's bricks or Citrus Plaza's concrete circles by the fountain are easy to identify. We're looking for identifiable locations but also some creativity that's fun and clean" says NickdoG. "We don't want to isolate any kids that don't have a camera phone or those that don't have Instagram. In fact, it may be better if they didn't." "All teens can participate at the event contest games for the same prizes, but the bottom line is that kids need somewhere to go and something to do that's fun and safe," added Jason Dean, youth leader at Zero Thread Youth. "We have done variations of the contest like this before, but this will be the first time that we include the Instagram aspect into it. My favorite part has to be that we have kids talking to kids and the community. It's hard for kids to connect when they are in different schools; for there to be interaction and connection and community is the most exciting thing about it." Ground Zero Redlands events will be at Packinghouse Christian Academy at 9700 Alabama Street from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m., on Jan. 21, Feb. 11, March 11, April 1 and May 6. Each event will include outdoor competition games, free hotdogs for the first 100 attendees, music and a Biblical message of hope. March 11 will include a concert from rock/electronic/rap duo, A Life Set Apart, and an appearance from Alisha Marie. Alisha has her own beauty, fun and fashion YouTube Channel with weekly videos reaching a million views. April 1 will feature a concert on the Wedge Mobile Stage by Roxie Jane. On May 6, Skate Church will be hosting a Skate Competition for prizes with Pro-Skateboarder, Zac Archuleta. Ground Zero Redlands YouTube videos will contain secret clues for the answers of questions for prizes at each event.