We describe the ‘Make a Smokefree Ad’ competition, an initiative of the Cancer Society of New Zealand, which was held in 1991 in secondary schools throughout the country. While competitions such as these have been used elsewhere to focus upon smoking in the young, some novel features of this competition made it a particularly well-received health promotion activity by both students and teachers. Most importantly, the activity treated the young participants as important partners in promoting the health of adolescents.