Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids Honors Magi Linscott of Pace, Fla. As National Youth Advocate of the Year

Leadership in Fight Against Tobacco Recognized Nationally

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May 13, 2014, 09:00 ET

WASHINGTON, May 13, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Magi Linscott, 17, of Pace, Fla., has been named the National Youth Advocate of the Year by the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids for her leadership in the fight against tobacco. Magi will be honored at a gala in the nation's capital on Thursday (May 15) along with four U.S. regional winners and a group winner.

Magi is a senior at Pace High School, where she joined her county's chapter of the statewide Students Working Against Tobacco (SWAT) program as a freshman. She first learned about the devastating effects of tobacco when her grandmother died of a tobacco-related disease.

To reduce tobacco use among her peers, Magi successfully worked to pass a countywide K-12 Comprehensive Tobacco Policy that bans tobacco use on school grounds and at school-sanctioned events off campus. She has also advocated for Florida counties to pass resolutions supporting a ban on candy-flavored tobacco.

Over the past year, Magi has tapped into the power of social media to promote Florida's new "Not a Replacement" tobacco prevention campaign. Youth are encouraged to send "selfie statements" to tobacco companies – photos of themselves with handwritten signs telling Big Tobacco that they are not replacement smokers, but individuals.

Partnering with AmeriCorps and United Way, Magi also led a community "Tobacco-Free Farm Share" that provided five tons of free food to people in need in Santa Rosa County. The event was smoke- and tobacco-free, and Magi distributed tobacco prevention and cessation materials to the more than 2,000 people who attended.

More than 400 public health, political, civic and business leaders will attend the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids' 18th annual gala in Washington, D.C., to recognize these young leaders. The winners will receive educational scholarships and grants to continue their prevention efforts. They also serve as ambassadors for Tobacco-Free Kids.

"We are thrilled to honor Magi as our National Youth Advocate of the Year," said Matthew L. Myers, President of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids. "Young leaders like her are crucial in the fight to make tobacco history and end this epidemic for good. With their help, we can create the first tobacco-free generation."

Without urgent action to reduce smoking, 5.6 million U.S. children alive today will die prematurely from smoking-caused disease, according to the latest Surgeon General's report on tobacco and health. That includes 270,000 children in Florida alone.

In Florida, tobacco use claims 28,100 lives and costs $8.6 billion in health care bills each year. Currently, 8.6 percent of the state's high school students smoke. Nationally, tobacco use kills more than 480,000 people and costs the nation at least $289 billion in health care bills and other economic losses each year.

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SOURCE Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids