A sexual assault awareness video created by Western Kentucky University students has been named a winner in Kentucky Attorney General Andy Beshear’s #VoiceofJustice video contest.

The 30-second video, titled “We All Need to Speak Up,” features students from WKU’s Student Government Association. It was produced for free by VidMonster Productions of Bowling Green.

SGA will receive $500 after getting more than 1,500 views on the attorney general’s YouTube channel, making it the “Viral Video” award.

“We wanted it to be a very inclusive message that everybody who views that can get something out of,” said SGA President Jay Todd Richey, adding the video aims to change how viewers see sexual assault. “It occurs in the most common spaces, and sometimes it’s your best friend.”

In the video, students hold signs with everyday examples of sexual assault, harassment and belittlement of sexual assault. Although the students are acting out scripted stories, Richey said the characters are meant to be relatable.

“You’re supposed to be able to identify with them easily,” he said.

When the video opens, the viewer sees a young woman standing on a bus holding a sign that reads “I was grabbed on the bus,” and then, “The people around me saw it happen. No one said anything.” Another scene at a party features a student holding a sign that reads “He followed me into the bathroom and said he would ‘Turn me straight.’ ” In a final scene, a group of young men in a locker room “talk about rape like it’s a joke.” A student holds a sign with the words “I need to speak up.”

Beshear echoed that message in a statement announcing the two contest winners. A video titled “Stand With Us,” produced by students at the University of Kentucky, was named the overall winner by a panel of sexual assault survivors and victim advocates. The group will also receive $500.

“I want to thank every student, faculty member and campus organization who sent in a video or who helped us spread the word about the contest,” Beshear said in a news release. “Voice of Justice was an opportunity for college students to lend their voices to bringing greater awareness to campus sexual assault, and I am proud of their courage to speak out. I hope their bravery inspires everyone on campus to intervene and prevent sexual assault, and creates a safer space for victims to contact the rape crisis hotline and report to authorities.”

Beshear’s office and the Kentucky Association of Sexual Assault Programs created the contest to raise awareness of campus sexual assault during April’s Sexual Assault Awareness and Prevention Month, according to the release. After it was announced in February, the contest asked students to submit 30-second videos that included the free Sexual Assault Hotline at 800-656-4673. Students were asked to include awareness of sexual assault, active bystanding or reporting, investigations and prosecutions of campus sexual assault.

All told, Beshear’s office received 14 submissions from Elizabethtown Community and Technical College; Murray State University; Owensboro Community and Technical College; Western Kentucky University; West Kentucky Community and Technical College; University of Kentucky and University of Louisville.

Two of the three scenes in the video were shot by Barbara Vanderveer of VidMonster Productions, while CEO and Creative Director Sam Kirby produced the video.

“We have to continue to find ways to discuss sexual assault without it being taboo,” Kirby said, adding that sexual assault is broader than the media sometimes portrays.

The videos are available on the attorney general’s YouTube channel and are available for use as public service announcements by Kentucky’s college campuses and statewide media, the release said.