Health Enhancement is offering a competition this month to promote safer drinking habits.

Students are asked to submit ideas on how to communicate ways to drink safely when partying, according to Health Enhancement’s Web site. All students and student organizations recognized by the Student Association are eligible. A panel of student and faculty judges will decide on the top two ideas and the two finalists will each receive $250 in cash.

“We’re asking [the panel] to judge it based on Health Enhancement’s media guidelines, which we call ‘PIE’- Positive, Inclusive and Empowering,” said Steve Lux, health educator for Health Enhancement. “Outside of that, we’re looking for them to judge the submissions based on uniqueness, creativity, feasibility and their impression of how likely the campaign will be effective.”

Finalists will work with a graphic designer before and after Spring Break to make a prototype of their idea, Lux said. The completed prototypes will circulate campus for voting. The winning campaign will be implemented in a Health Enhancement campaign next fall.

According to the Spring 2005 National College Health Assessment, of the 54,111 college students surveyed on their drinking habits the last time they partied, roughly 19 percent reported zero alcohol use, 41 percent reported having one to four drinks, 27 percent said they had five to eight drinks and 13 percent reported drinking nine or more drinks.

Elizabeth Berquist, a post-graduate taking marketing classes, said she usually has one or two drinks when she goes to a party. Berquist said she always eats before she drinks.

“I don’t put my drink down [at a party],” she said. “If someone’s giving me a drink, I’ll make sure I know the person. It’ll usually be my boyfriend or close friends.”

Berquist said she thinks most students do not practice safe drinking behaviors while partying.