LEWISTON – Heartbreak from a tragedy in Poland, where six young people died in a drunk driving crash, went into a film that fetched a Lewiston High School senior a state honor.

Ashley Morgan, 18, is among six Maine teens being honored today as WCSH-6’s Teens Who Care award-winners for 2008. Morgan won for her work writing and directing the Lewiston Youth Advisory Council’s film “Smashed,” a fictional story about a girl who dies in a car crash after a post-prom party.

The film was the culmination of the youth council’s “U Booze U Looze” campaign, aimed at curbing teenage drinking and driving.

When the Poland crash occurred two days before Christmas in 2006, the youth council was planning the film. The Poland tragedy shaped the story line, Morgan said.

She was acquainted with some of the high school students who died. Others on the youth council were close friends with the boys. “It was definitely a shock,” Morgan said. “We thought it would be good timing to bring that kind of movie out.”

“Smashed” opens with teens in counseling, grieving the loss of a friend who died after getting in a car with a drunk driver. The film features a girl named Elise whose friends talk her into going to a party after the prom.

The dead girl’s friends reflect on what happened and what they could have done to change the outcome, Morgan said. The movie shows kids goofing off during lectures about drinking and driving, a reality-based crash scene, the ease of kids getting alcohol and how Elise’s parents didn’t check up on her.

The end of the movie features an interview with the real mother of Lewiston High School athlete Matt Manley, one of the four students who died in the Poland crash. The result was a heavy dose of reality.

Dottie Perham-Whittier, the city of Lewiston’s community relations coordinator, nominated Morgan for the award.

When Morgan learned about the dangers of underage drinking at a conference she attended, she led the youth council through the development of the “U Booze U Looze” campaign to save lives, Perham-Whittier said. And when the group wanted to use film to further reach youths, Morgan “stepped up to the plate” to co-write and co-direct “Smashed,” Perham-Whittier said. “I’ve known Ashley for four years. She truly exemplifies the meaning of character, commitment and determination.”

Looking back at her work, Morgan said it was satisfying. She called it an amazing experience that has opened doors. She is now interning at Via Vision in Lewiston and is planning to study communication at college next year at Nova Scotia, Oregon or the University of Maine.

Underage drinking is not the biggest threat facing high school teenagers, but it is a subject that everyone has to deal with at some point, Morgan said.

“It’s kind of a of a big hype that everybody parties in high school. There’s a lot of people who don’t,” she said.

She has been involved in the youth council all four years in high school. While a middle school student she participated in the Seeds of Peace program, which brings youths from war-torn countries to Maine to talk with other youths.

The Teens Who Care program is judged by WCSH-6 and WLBZ-2. Judges selected Morgan and five others from a list of 60. Other honorees are Amber Casterlin of Brunswick, Lacie Craven of Machiasport, Rebecca Fick of Garland, Katie Moskowitz of Saco and Caleb Nickerson of Lincoln.

The six will be honored in a documentary-style profile that will debut at the awards ceremony and will be broadcast in May. The stations will also air 30-second salutes throughout May and June.