LOGAN — Several Cache Valley students were recognized as state winners in the 2026 Utah High School Clean Air Marketing Contest during a Feb. 14 awards ceremony at Utah State University’s Nora Eccles Harrison Museum of Art Community Art Day.
More than 1,000 high school students from southern Utah to southern Idaho created public service announcements promoting clean air for this year’s contest. Sixty-seven entries were selected by their respective high schools as finalists, and all finalist PSAs are on display at the museum through the end of February.
A panel of 34 judges evaluated the finalists and selected 20 state winners. Among them were multiple students from northern Utah and Cache Valley schools:
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Zoe Appel, Ridgeline High School — $275 Cache Valley Electric Award
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Sophia Kleiner, Logan High School — $250 Cache Valley Electric Award
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Addie Belle Davis, Ridgeline High School — $200 Zions Bank Award
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Sammi Baugh, Ridgeline High School — $200 Healthy Human Habitat Award
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Drew Poulson, Green Canyon High School — $200 Engel & Volkers Logan Award
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Owen Shakespeare, Green Canyon High School — $200 Cache Chamber of Commerce Award
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Savanna Major, Ridgeline High School — $150 Campbell Scientific Award
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Maylee Hathaway, Ridgeline High School — $100 Cache Valley Association of Realtors Award
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Amy Velazquez, Ridgeline High School — $100 Ace Recycling and Disposal Award
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Lacey Benson, Ridgeline High School — $100 Utah League of Cities and Towns Award
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Jay Cantwell, Ridgeline High School — $100 Blue Planet Lawn Award
Students from other parts of Utah and southern Idaho were also honored, including Yoselyn Zavala of Granger High School, who received the $300 Clark and Christine Ivory Foundation Award as the contest’s top winner.
Zavala and Davis also earned special recognition for winning at the state level three years in a row since 2024 — a distinction achieved by only one other student in the contest’s 11-year history.
Utah State University President Brad Mortensen opened the ceremony, congratulating finalists for their creative PSAs calling for a clean air future.
The Utah High School Clean Air Marketing Contest was created in 2015 by USU professors Roslynn Brain McCann of USU Extension Sustainability and Edwin Stafford of the Jon M. Huntsman School of Business. The contest aims to empower teens to address Utah’s winter inversion air pollution.
PSAs combine art, science and marketing strategies to encourage actions such as carpooling, using alternative transportation, limiting idling, trip chaining and skipping drive-thru lanes. Organizers said the messaging is often provocative, humorous and tied to teen pop culture. Winning PSAs will be used for educational outreach statewide and on social media.
This year’s judges included Salt Lake Tribune political cartoonist Pat Bagley, pop singer Jessica Baio, EcoChef Christopher Galarza, ABC4 News Morning Anchor Alyssa Royster and Mortensen.
Additionally, Leaders for Clean Air is donating an electric vehicle charging station to Granger High School as a lasting legacy of Zavala’s 2026 top-winning entry. The organization’s objective is to deploy EV chargers across Utah to support electric vehicle adoption and help preserve air quality.
McCann said research shows the contest has influence beyond the classroom.
“Our research shows that the contest is having an impact beyond the teens in educating Utahns about how to help keep the air healthy,” she said.
“The entries get better and more provocative every year,” Stafford said. “Creative competitions are important vehicles for educating youth as they spark the fun of learning and self-discovery that you just can’t replicate in the classroom.”
For more information, visit cleanaircontest.usu.edu.