Contest for Short Video on Environmental Issue
FOR SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN NORTHERN IRELAND AND REPUBLIC OF IRELAND
In order to promote a better understanding of environmental issues within secondary schools on the island of Ireland, the Green Schools program of An Taisce, the ECO Schools program, including the Young Reporters for the Environment of Tidy Northern Ireland, and irish environment, an online resource for environmental matters on the island of Ireland, organized a cross-border contest for the best video of less than three minutes on an environmental issue by a secondary school in the Republic of Ireland (RoI) or Northern Ireland (NI).
The organizers hoped to use the contest as a means of building on the information and commitment students have about environmental issues that they have gained from participating in the Eco/Green Schools programs, and helping them to develop communication skills in how to convey what they know and what they believe to others using language, images and even music through video.
The contest offered a first prize of £500, contributed by irish environment electronic magazine, and a £250 second prize contribute by An Taisce and Tidy NI.
In this initial, pilot project, the contest was open only to a limited number of schools that were selected by the ECO Schools or Green Schools programs. The contest was limited because of concerns about the extent of the strain on limited resources of the three organizers. A pilot project was deemed necessary to evaluate what level of commitment of staff and financial resources are necessary to implement such a contest in an efficient and professional manner.
Selected schools were contacted in the fall and the deadline for submitting the video entries was January 16, 2012. Twelve schools submitted video entries. Representatives of each of the sponsoring organizations reviewed all the entries and jointly selected the videos to receive the first and second prizes.
Winners were announced at the Eco-Schools Celebration Event in Newry on 2nd February 2012. Over 500 people attended this packed event, which was supported by the Department of the Environment and sponsored by Newry and Mourne District Council. Environment Minister for Northern Ireland Alex Attwood, along with Anthony Purcell of An Taisce, Jonathan Smith of Tidy NI, and Robert Emmet Hernan, Publisher of irish environment, participated in the presentation of awards to the two winning schools.
First prize was won by Holy Trinity College of Cookstown, Northern Ireland, and second prize was won by Ursuline College, Sligo, Republic of Ireland.
The feedback from participating schools and schools at the award ceremony which had not participated was enthusiastic and a number of schools have expressed interest in another contest for next year. In addition, the award ceremony was covered on RTE television news program.
The contest required substantial staff time and resources from Tidy NI and An Taisce to notify schools of the contest, follow-up with selected schools to encourage participation, address many technical questions about the format for video entries, resolve problems with the format of videos as they were submitted, transfer videos to each of the judges, judge the entries, coordinate the evaluations by the judges, and organise the award ceremony. Tidy NI and An Taisce are evaluating the possibility of continuing the contest for 2012-2013.
Below is the Announcement sent to the invited schools, including the rules for the contest:
ANNOUNCEMENT
INVITATION TO SUBMIT ENTRY FOR CONTEST FOR SHORT VIDEO ON ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUE FOR SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN NORTHERN IRELAND AND REPUBLIC OF IRELAND
In order to promote a better understanding of environmental issues within secondary schools on the island of Ireland, Green-Schools (An Taisce), ECO Schools NI (Tidy NI), and irish environment, an online resource for environmental matters on the island of Ireland — the competition organizers — are offering a £500 first prize for the best video of less than three minutes on an environmental issue, and a £250 second prize. One prize will be awarded to a school from the Republic of Ireland (RoI) and one from Northern Ireland (NI).
In order to assess the scope of the work required to administer such a contest, the competition organizers have limited the schools which are eligible in this initial pilot project year to a sample of Eco-Schools in NI and awarded Green-Schools from the Border Region of the Republic of Ireland.
Your school has been selected to be eligible for submitting a video for this initial pilot contest. The deadline for submitting a video is Monday, January 16, 2012. The winner will be announced in February, 2012.
Please send an expression of interest in the contest by email Eco Schools program of Tidy NI or to Green Schools program of An Taisce within two weeks of receiving this Announcement to indicate that your school plans on submitting an entry.
RULES FOR ENTRY
Who is eligible
Only one video from each school may be entered in the contest.
Each school must have a teacher(s) or administrator(s) who sponsors the submission from that school
The number of students participating in each school is determined by each school. If only one student expresses an interest, a video from that student is eligible if the school endorses the submission. There is no maximum limit to the number of students that can be involved in producing a single video entry.
What kind of video is allowed
Videos can be presented in any genre. For example, it can be animation, musical, documentary, puppetry, art, drama, experimental, factual, or fictional. These are just examples and any genre can be used.
The video must be less than three minutes in running time, including titles and credits. Any submission longer than three minutes will not be eligible.
Deadline for submission
The deadline for submitting the video is not later than 5:00 pm GMT on Monday, January 16, 2012.
You will be asked to submit your video either on a DVD or other media and details on how to submit the video will be provided prior to the deadline.
At the same time as the video is submitted, and not later than the deadline, each school also must submit a Word document to include:
- the title of the video
- name of the school
- sponsoring teacher(s) and/or administrator(s)
- an email address for the contact person (teacher or administrator) at the school
- the name of the participating students
- a statement that the material in the video does not violate any copyright or privacy protections
Criteria for winning entry
The winning entry will be judged on the quality and originality of the ideas and the way in which the ideas are visually represented in the video, including the following criteria:
- Accuracy of information and ideas presented
- Originality of video, creativity and imagination
- Innovation
- How well the video communicates with the audience
- The effectiveness and appropriateness of the technology used
Prize
One video will be chosen as the winner of the £500 first prize by a panel of 3 judges representing or chosen by the competition organizers. Another video will be chosen by the same judges as the winner of the £250 second prize. If the first prize is awarder to a school from the RoI, then the second prize will be from a school in NI, and if the first prize is awarded to a school in NI, then the second prize will be awarded to a school in the RoI.
Each school that submits a video for the contest will receive a Certificate of Participation.
The competition organizers reserve the right to reject any entry deemed unsuitable.
The Judges’ decision is final.
The sponsoring teacher(s) and/or administrator(s) from the school that wins the award will be notified by email. The Eco-committee/Green-Schools committee of the winning schools will have the responsibility to decide how the prize money will be spent.
Other Rules and Conditions for the Contest:
You must have created your film yourself and you are responsible for obtaining all written ‘clearances’ e.g. actors’ permissions, copyright, trade mark and privacy permissions in connection with it. If your film contains contributions from other people or material that you have not created, you are fully responsible for obtaining written permission to use such work. For example, if you want to use music by your favorite musicians, you must obtain their written permission to use their work or you cannot use that music if it is protected by copyright laws.
Nothing in your film should be sexually explicit, misleading, blasphemous, harassing, obscene, defamatory or otherwise unlawful. It should not feature any personal details about other people or any brand names, or in any way invade the privacy of anyone.
By submitting an entry for the competition, schools are deemed to have given consent for the entry to be reproduced, published and/or played by the organisors as they see fit.
Entry to the competition constitutes full and unconditional acceptance of these Terms and Conditions.
No comments yet, add your own below