LIBERTY TOWNSHIP, Ohio (WKBN) – Two sophomores from Liberty High School won first place in the Sound the Siren on Suicide Youth Video Challenge.

For this challenge, students in grades 7 to 12 made videos to bring awareness to the increase in suicides in Trumbull County.

The videos also promote the suicide hotline number 988.

A panel judged the videos on content, creativity, and technicality.

The winners, Peyton Kovach and Rachel Strohmeyer, say you never know what someone may be going through. They wanted their video to show others that it is okay to ask for help.

Katie Cretella is the director of clinical health for Trumbull County and was a judge on the panel.

“In 2022, we have eight individuals who died by suicide between the ages of 15-34. So, we knew we needed to get our youth involved, and we really need to target our younger audience since we saw this increase, and who better to get the attention of youth and of young adults than our youth here in the county,” Cretella said.

The top three winning videos from the competition will be aired on WKBN.