Plainfield High School Student Could Take Home a Libby if Deemed the Group's Fiercest Animal Advocate
For Immediate
Release:
December 16,
2011
Contact:
David Perle 202-483-7382
Plainfield, N.J. -- He has already alerted his classmates and faculty members to the fact that besides being cruel, factory farms are a major source of greenhouse-gas emissions, so what's next for 17-year-old Plainfield resident Joel Mercado? For starters, he's just been named one of four finalists for a Libby Award for Male Street Teamer of the Year by peta2, PETA's youth division. The sixth annual Libby Awards ("Libby" is for "liberation") honor animal-friendly people and products. Visitors to peta2.com can vote for their favorites in each category, and peta2 will choose the winners.
"Joel is giving his classmates a valuable education about justice for others that they wouldn't be getting otherwise," says peta2 Division Manager Marta Holmberg. "Our impressive finalists prove that the real winners are the animals these students work so hard to protect."
Mercado never misses an opportunity to speak out in behalf of animals and the environment, such as whipping up a last-minute protest against McDonald's over the company's complicity in the painful deaths of the chickens it buys. He has raised a buzz in his school over the millions of animals who suffer on factory farms every year by handing out stickers for his classmates' cell phones, asking his classmates to sign petitions, and urging his school to offer veggie burgers in the cafeteria.
In addition to the four male finalists, four finalists have been nominated for Female Street Teamer of the Year. Twenty-nine Libby Awards will be given out this year, recognizing everything from the most vegan-friendly restaurant chain to the best cruelty-free cosmetics company to peta2's favorite animal-friendly celebrity. Each winner will receive a framed certificate and be featured on peta2.com.
For more information about all the nominees, please visit peta2.com.
Voting ends on December 23, and the winners will be announced on January 17. The winners will be chosen by peta2 based on equal consideration of three factors: the number of votes received, the quality of the animal-friendly product or the nominees' enthusiasm for being animal-friendly, and feedback from the nominees' fans.