Alliance to End Human Trafficking Honors Winners of National Student Video Contest at 2026 Conference
During its 2026 conference, United in Prevention: Current Trends and Prevention Strategies, the Alliance to End Human Trafficking honored the winners of its national high school video contest, “What Would You Do?”
The contest invited students from across the United States to create short videos that raise awareness about human trafficking and educate their peers on how to recognize and prevent exploitation. The winning entries offered compelling, youth-informed perspectives on a complex and urgent issue.
This initiative comes at a critical time. According to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, reports of online exploitation increased by 98 percent in 2020. Of those reported cases, 78 percent of victims were female, 13 percent male, and in 9 percent of cases, gender could not be determined. More broadly, an estimated 300,000 children in the United States are at risk of being trafficked, underscoring the urgency of prevention efforts that reach young people directly.
Winners were selected based on clarity, creativity, and impact as follows:
- 1st Place – Araya Edwards, Warrenton, OR
- 2nd Place – Dulce Lopez, Melissa Gonzalez, and Aylin Cortes, Chicago, IL
- 3rd Place – Bogna Lekan and Chloe Sohn, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey
The Alliance to End Human Trafficking extends our sincere gratitude to our sponsors and judges for their support of this year’s video contest. Our sponsors made it possible to provide meaningful recognition and prizes for student participants, while our judges, bringing expertise in film, advocacy, and human trafficking prevention, carefully reviewed each submission and helped elevate the strongest entries.
For more information or to request interviews, please contact:
Christine Commerce, Program Director
Christine@AllianceToEndHumanTrafficking.org
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Alliance to End Human Trafficking was founded in 2013 by a group of Catholic Sisters committed to ending human trafficking and supporting survivors. They created a national network of resources and support that includes many different congregations of women religious and mission-aligned partners. Today, this member-based organization has grown to include more than 115 congregations and 100+ individuals and organizations across the United States. AEHT is also the U.S. member of Talitha Kum, the international network of consecrated life working to end human trafficking.
