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High School Video Contest
 
 

 

Get Cash for your School!

 

Get your Video on TV!

 

See links on the right for details....

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Objective

The objective is for high school students to create local water related public service announcments and thereby increasing their awareness of water issues and enhancing the public’s knowledge of water conservation programs in Santa Barbara County.

Awards

Participants recieve the following prizes:

1st place $1,000.00

2nd place $750.00

3rd place $500.00

Highest Honorable Mention $200.00

Honorable Mention- no cash prize

All participants are invited along with their families, classmates, teacher, and principal, to the Awards Ceremony, held in May, in Santa Barbara, CA. Winners will be presented with a certificate, and will get their picture taken with local officials from their water district or city. A picture of winners and a press release will go out to the media across Santa Barbara County.

Checks are made out to the school and are intended for use by video classes or high schools, not by individual students.

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Requirements for Contest

  1. Your school must in Santa Barbara County
  2. Your public service announcement must be produced according to specific criteria (check the Recording Criteria)
  3. You must submit application materials (check the Application Materials List)
  4. You must produce a PSA on one of this year's topics (see Topic List)
  5. You must make sure no other videos are being submitted from your school. Work with your advisor to determine this. Only one submission per school.

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Eligibility

All High Schools in Santa Barbara County are currently eligible. Only one submission per school is allowed. For schools with multiple video projects, the school is responsible for choosing one video to send to the County Video Contest.


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Application Materials

Follow this checklist to make sure you have all the necessary application materials. Each form can be opened by clicking on its name. If you do not have Adobe Acrobat, please click here. Please call 568-3440 if you would like a hard copy of the forms.

  1. Application Form (1 copy per entry)
  2. Copyright Form (1 copy per entry)
  3. Photographic Release Form (1 copy per student; if under 18, a parent must sign Child's Release)
  4. Your public service announcement, recorded on DVD (see Recording Criteria for specifics)

Please print, sign, and mail the above items below by 5pm on March 20, 2009 to:


Santa Barbara County Water Agency
Attn: High School Video Contest
123 E. Anapamu St #240
Santa Barbara, CA 93101

In order to be eligible for the contest, all forms must be submitted with video by the deadline.

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Due Date

All application materials must be received by 5 p.m. on March 20, 2009. Materials can be hand-delivered by the due date or postmarked by the due date.

Topic List

We need your help! We need your expertly edited public service announcement (PSA) to get the important message of water conservation across to the residents of Santa Barbara County in a fun and entertaining way. Remember to keep all announcements "rated G" and assume that all ages will be watching your video. If your video contains content that is not suitable for government access TV in the eyes of the judges, it will likely not recieve a prize or be aired on TV.

In order to show people exactly what to do, it's important that your PSA give the viewer information about a specific program they can get involved in. Note: one of these topics must be addressed by your PSA- if one of these topics is not addressed, you will lose points! Click on these topics to learn more about them. If you need more information, call 568-3440 and ask for the High School Video Contest staff person.

Remember to make them creative and fun! Make your videos equivalent to a "G" rating, appropriate for family viewing. Otherwise, we will not be able to use your video or award it any prize money.

Indoor Conservation
    Low-Flow Technologies
    Conservation Practices
    Free Water-Wise Check-Ups

Water Wise Landscaping
    Water wise Plants
    Sprinkler Maintenance
    Sustainable Gardening

Appropriate Water Scheduling
    Changing Seasonal Demands
    Water Index
    Landscape Watering Calculator
    Smart Controllers

Conservation in Businesses
    Retrofitting with Low-Flow Fixtures
    Free Commercial Water Check-ups

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Recording Criteria

PSA must be recorded on a DVD. In order for your PSA to be useable by local TV stations, it needs to meet specific criteria:

  1. Order and time lengths are very important when we process your video. Follow this order and these times exactly:

    A. 10 seconds of black

    B. 30 seconds of color bars and tone

    C. 10 seconds black

    D. 5 seconds of title page, with Title of PSA, students involved, and year

    E. 10 seconds of black

    F. 30 second or 60 second PSA (must be exactly 30 or exactly 60)

  2. G. 10 seconds black

  3. At the end of the PSA itself, within Step F, include a "www.sbwater.org" as the "tagline" or reference for your viewers. This is a mandatory tagline.
  4. Remember to include this WITHIN the 30- or 60-second PSA.

  5. Just before the end of the PSA, right after your tag line, dip to black. Dip should be included within the 30- or 60- second PSA.


  6. Make sure your video is formatted for viewing on a TV. The whole picture, especially words and captions, must fit within a normal television screen without being cut off.

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Winning Videos and Example Public Service Announcements

Here are some examples of PSAs and some of our winners from past years. These files are very large, and may take a long time to download. If you do not have video viewing software, click here, or for another software, click here.

Water Boy (2008 1st winner- Cabrillo High School)

Priceless (2008 2nd place winner- San Marcos High School)

The Art of Water (2008 3rd place tie- Cate School)

Water Conservation (2008 3rd place tie- Dos Pueblos High School)

The Dropfather (2007 1st place winner- Cabrillo High School)

A Valuable and Pleasing Commodity (2007 2nd place winner- Santa Ynez High School)

One Drop at a Time (2007 3rd place winner- Cate School)

Landscaping with Native Species (2006 1st place winner- Cate School) View with QuickTime

Future Need (2006 2nd place winner- Cabrillo High School) View with QuickTime

Droplet (2006 3rd place winner- San Marcos High School) View with QuickTime

Hank, the Model Citizen (2005 1st place winner) (AVI File, 3.3 MB)

 

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Internet Resources

For information on water conservation and local water programs, click on the links below.

Local Water Districts and Programs:

Carpinteria Valley Water District

City of Santa Barbara Water Resources

Cuyama Community Services District

City of Santa Maria

Goleta Water District

Montecito Water District

Santa Barbara County Regional Water Efficiency Program

Santa Ynez River Water Conservation District, ID #1

Vandenberg Village Community Services District

Other Water Links:

H2ouse.org - Saving Water in the Home

WATERIGHT - An educational and irrigation scheduling resource for water managers

Green Gardener Program - educational program that teaches gardeners sustainable gardening practices

Water Education Foundation

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California State Content Standards

The following standards are met through participation in this contest:

Science
9-12th: 9c

Performing Arts:
9-12th: Visual & Performing 5.2

English/Language Arts
9-10th: Listening & Speaking 1.1, 1.7, 1.9, 2.2d-f, 2.5b-d, 2.6a-c
11-12th: 1.4, 1.6, 2.1b, 2.4a, c, d

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Judging Criteria

Videos will be judged in several areas:
  1. Incorporation of Suggested Topics
  2. Creativity, Originality, Impact
  3. Informational Content
  4. Entertainment Value/Interest Level
  5. Accuracy of Information
  6. Production Quality

For a copy of the Rating Form to see how your video will be judged, click here.

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Help with PSAs

It's important when creating your PSA that you get the facts right! Otherwise, your PSA may not be usable on TV. In order to help you check your facts, you are welcome to send a copy of your script for fact checking to our staff, and we will help you! Email the Water Agency by clicking here, or call 568-3440. She will get you in touch with your water provider who can help you check the facts you use in your PSA. It will take us about two weeks to get back to you, so plan your recording around this.

Awards Ceremony

The Awards Ceremony was be held in May 2009 at the Santa Barbara Downtown Library. All contest participants, their friends, families, teacher or advisor, and principal, are invited to the Awards Ceremony, as well as guests from the public, the media, and public officials. Pizza and other refreshments are served. All videos make their public debut at the Award Ceremony. Awards for 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and participant level prizes are awarded by local water agency officials from the participating school's district. Students are given certificates and are presented with a check for their school ($1,000 for 1st place, $750 for 2nd place, $500 for 3rd place, and $200 for participants). Photographs are taken with students and local officials for newspapers. It's really fun!

1st place winner for High School Video Contest 2008 Santa Ynez 2nd place 2007
 
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Press Release 2008

Check out the winners of the 2008 High School Water Awareness Video Contest!

Sponsors

Thanks to all the sponsors of this program:

Carpinteria Valley Water District
City of Lompoc
City of Santa Barbara
City of Santa Maria
Goleta Water District
La Cumbre Water District
Montecito Water District
Santa Barbara County Water Agency
Santa Ynez River Water Conservation District, ID #1
Vandenberg Village Community Services District

Our list is growing! Check back soon.

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More Information

For more information, please contact the Water Agency at 568-3440 or send an email click here .

For a copy of the Video Contest flyer, click here. (If you do not have Adobe Acrobat, click here).