TotalEnergies Marketing Lebanon presented awards to 18 school students who won the VIA Creative contest at a ceremony held at Sursock Museum. Launched by TotalEnergies Marketing Lebanon in collaboration with the National Road Safety Council (NRSC) and the Ecole Supérieure d’Ingénieurs de Beyrouth (ESIB-USJ) earlier this year, the VIA Creative contest aims at raising awareness on pedestrian safe behavior among school students.     

The contest, with the theme of pedestrian road safety for the year 2022, attracted the participation of over 1,100 school students representing 11 schools from different areas in the country. The students submitted posters on their views and understanding of pedestrian road safety.   

A local jury comprising Mr. Michel Moutran (Vice Secretary, National Road Safety Council), Prof. Wassim Raphael (Dean of the Faculty of Engineering and Director of ESIB, Saint-Joseph University of Beirut), Ms. Rebecca Mourani (Creative Director, Feer Mc Queen) and Mr. Roland Baz (Hygiene, Safety, Environment & Quality Manager, TotalEnergies Marketing Lebanon) selected the winning posters based on a set of criteria: Creativity & Originality, Clarity, Impact of the message and Coherence between the text and the image.

In parallel, a special prize for the poster with the best slogan “Coup de Coeur Presse” was selected by a jury from the press including: Ms. Issamar Lteif (Reporter and Journalist at the newspaper AnNahar), Ms. Myriam Shuman (Owner and Executive Director of L’Agenda Culturel), Ms. Rania Ziadeh Ashkar (Producer and Presenter at MTV), Ms. Souad Habka (Producer and Presenter at LBCI), Mr. Lucas Lamah (Partner, Beiruting.com) and Mr. Omar Khaddaj (Reporter and Presenter at Al Jadeed) based on the following criteria: Rhyme, Impact of the message, and Conciseness.

Mr. Adrien Béchonnet, Managing Director, TotalEnergies Marketing Lebanon and Country Chair, said: “Children are among the world’s most vulnerable road users. The VIA Creative contest uses innovative approaches – combining education and creativity – to raise awareness among the young generation on road safety topics and behavior. This is a core value of our CSR strategy!”

Mr. Michel Moutran, Vice Secretary, National Road Safety Council, expressed his pride in partnering with TotalEnergies Marketing Lebanon, saying: “VIA Creative initiative addresses a big need in Lebanon which is the lack of pedestrian public zones and the education that comes with it. It comes in line with the objective of protecting the Vulnerable Road Users (VRUs) who constitute the category of the highest deaths in Lebanon and the world. We believe that in raising a more aware generation, we will be contributing to building the pedestrian culture in Lebanon.”

Commenting on this initiative, Prof. Wassim Raphael, Dean of the Faculty of Engineering and Director of ESIB, Saint-Joseph University of Beirut, said: “Do everything to save lives, so that the road is not the place of so many broken destinies! The USJ, which is committed to promoting a culture of road safety, will continue its commitment to serving citizenship for the public good. Human life is our most valuable gift. We have decided to make road safety our personal concern to preserve this gift.”