Portland Teen Named Finalist in Two National Hero Competitions

Portland Teen Named Finalist in Two National Hero Competitions

CNN and Volvo Recognize Student's Fight Against Predators

PORTLAND, Ore., Nov. 30 /PRNewswire/ -- Dallas Jessup (15) has been named a finalist in the CNN Hero competition and also a finalist in the Volvo for Life Awards competition as a Youth Hero. Jessup is recognized for her work in protecting teenage girls from abduction and sexual assault. For the CNN Hero award Jessup is among 18 honorees in 6 categories of cause-related work from among 7,000 nominations. She's now competing for the nation's top CNN Hero.

"I'm honored to be included among such remarkable people," said Dallas. "There are some excellent things going on in the world and it's terrific for CNN and Volvo to put the spotlight on them."

For the Volvo Youth Hero award Jessup was selected from thousands of nominations, as 1 of 10 Youth Heroes in the Annual Volvo for Life Awards. She's now in the running for the "America's Greatest Hometown Hero" to be decided in part by online voting at http://www.volvoforlifeawards.com/.

Although only 15, Jessup is putting predators and rapists out of business across the country. She uses her expertise in martial arts to train and empower girls 11 to 19 to stand up for themselves in brutal attack situations. Jessup, a Tae Kwon Do black belt and Filipino Street Fighting instructor, was motivated to act after learning of alarming statistics of sexual assault and abduction of young women. One in four women is the victim of sexual assault and there are 114,000 attempted abductions in the US annually.

To turn the tables on the attackers, Jessup wrote and produced a film to illustrate simple ways for a 100-pound girl to get away from any size attacker by eye gouging, biting, slapping an ear, and other quick-learn techniques. To date, 325,000 copies of her film, "Just Yell Fire", have been downloaded or distributed for free.

Now that the film is in 37 countries, Jessup continues her work by lobbying politicians to include self defense as a mandatory component of physical education in schools. "What if a predator couldn't take your daughter because she was smarter and faster," asks Jessup. "That's what Just Yell Fire is all about."

The CNN Heroes are featured weekdays on CNN's "Anderson Cooper 360". Anyone can vote for their favorite Volvo Hero online at http://www.volvoforlifeawards.com/ until January 7.

Information: Maggie 360.521.0437

First Call Analyst:
FCMN Contact:

Source: Just Yell Fire

CONTACT: Maggie Jessup, +1-360-521-0437, for Just Yell Fire

Web site: http://www.volvoforlifeawards.com/

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Profile: International Entertainment