Student Video Competition
NOW ACCEPTING SUBMISSIONS FOR 2023!
Annually in the Spring semester, Friends of the Petaluma River's Watershed Classroom, in collaboration with the City of Petaluma, offers three scholarships to high school students and three scholarships to middle school students.
Students should create a short, compelling, well filmed and edited PSA answering the following prompt :
2023 Prompt: How can we make water conservation a way of life? How can we continue to save water even in times of abundance?
Videos can be a skit, newscast, music video, documentary style video, or even an animation. We encourage students to be creative!
DEADLINE: June 7th, 2023
Guidelines for Entry
Videos should be exactly 40 OR 55 seconds long.
Last scene of the video must include the Friends of the Petaluma River, Watershed Classroom, and City of Petaluma Logos (Available for download below).
All entries must be created by students without professional assistance (Teacher advice ok).
Contestants must have rights to all media (sound, music, images) included in the video. (See "Additional Resources" section below for more information on usage rights and copyright laws)
Each entry should be submitted using the SUBMIT button below.
Entries must be submitted with sources cited for all visual and audio media on the
Keep an editable version of your video on a device which you have access to even when school is not in session. (Edits after submission.
Scholarships Awarded to Middle School Students
FIRST PLACE $500
SECOND PLACE $250
THIRD PLACE $100
Scholarships Awarded to High School Students
FIRST PLACE $500
SECOND PLACE $250
THIRD PLACE $100
Who is Eligible?
Students grades 6 through 8, and 9 through 12, at any school in Petaluma or Penngrove are eligible. This includes Petaluma, Casa Grande, San Antonio, St. Vincent de Paul, Sonoma Mountain, and Carpe Diem High Schools. Home school students also welcome.
Students may work in teams but cash prize will be split between them.
Winners Determined By:
Accuracy of knowledge shared
Clarity of ideas conveyed
Video aesthetics
2022 High School Winners
1st Place - Ava Scott, Ashley Lindelli, Bridget Newman, Ingrid Dierkhising, ‘Conserving Water in Petaluma’
2nd Place - Giselle Marquez Navarro, ‘Conserving Water for the Petaluma River Watershed’
3rd Place - Mauricio Mejia Pagola, Winnie Canale, Mia Harris, Brooke Day, Georgiana Morris, ‘Special Report on Conserving Water in Petaluma’
2022 Middle School Winners
1st Place - Sofia Piazza, ‘Keep It Simple’
2nd Place - Jada Reynolds, ’Let’s Learn to Save Water’
3rd Place - Lucy Howell, Rubie Flato, Tiger Ciampi, ‘You’re Killing My Best Friend’
2022 Winning High School Videos:
1st Place - Ava Scott, Ashley Lindelli, Bridget Newman, Ingrid Dierkhising, ‘Conserving Water in Petaluma’
2nd Place - Giselle Marquez Navarro, ‘Conserving Water for the Petaluma River Watershed’
3rd Place - Mauricio Mejia Pagola, Winnie Canale, Mia Harris, Brooke Day, Georgiana Morris, ‘Special Report on Conserving Water in Petaluma’
2022 Winning Middle School Videos:
1st Place - Sofia Piazza, ‘Keep It Simple’
2nd Place - Jada Reynalds, ‘Let’s Learn to Save Water’
3rd Place - Lucy Howell, Rubie Flato, Tiger Ciampi
2021 Winning High School Videos:
1st Place - Eva Beatty, ‘Conservation Animation’
2nd Place - Ryan Mander, ‘Ways to Save Water’
3rd Place - Ryli Mozolak, ‘Say Water!’
2021 Winning Middle School Videos:
1st Place - Luciana Eyler, ‘Conserve Water & Save Our Home’
2nd Place - Theo Leon & Alexis Genova, ‘Go All Out to Stop Drought’
3rd Place - Maxwell Brown & Winslow Bouverat, ‘Water Conservation PSA’
2020 Winning High School Videos:
1st Place - "Microplastics Aren't Fantastic" by Ryan Mander (Teacher: David Meirik)
2nd Place - "Microplastics in the Petaluma River" by Zoey Haines (Teacher: Kris Camacho)
3rd Place - "Microplastics in the Petaluma River Watershed" by Hana Cardoza, Matthew George, and Liliana Licona (Teacher: Linda Judah)
2020 Winning Middle School Videos:
1st Place - "Micro Plastics: Small Plastic, Big Problem" by James Carter (Teacher: Matt Jackson)
2nd Place - "A Macro Solution for Micro Plastics" by Reilly Kreutz & Skylar Spain (Teacher Katie Gill)
3rd Place - "Microplastics Matter" by Paige Habkirk (Teacher: Matt Jackson)
2019 Winning High School Videos:
Petaluma Watershed
1st Place Winners Giselle Marquez, Mariana Rodriguez, and Paige Sullivan
Water use and our watershed
2nd Place Winners Kevin Garcia Gonzales and Eric Martinez
Be Cool, Wash Cold
3rd Place Winner Andrew Gottshall
2019 Winning Middle School Videos:
Do it for Deborah
1st place winner Allie Marr
Don’t be the Water Waster!
2nd place winners Skylar Spain, Reilly Kreutz
Every Drop Counts
3rd place winners Luna Yu, Audrey Keltzer, Mira Middleton, Kira Gilman
2018 Winning High School Videos:
1st Place Winner of the 2018 Video Award
2nd Place Video Award Winner
3rd Place Video Award Winner
Logos
Click images to download
Additional Resources
Sound and Music Resources
An in-depth explanation of how you are allowed to use music and sound in your Watershed Classroom Video Award Submission.
An explanation of US music copyright laws by Public Domain Information (pdinfo.com).
NOTE: Sites listed in this article have NOT been tested or verified by Friends of the Petaluma River or the City of Petaluma. Use at your own risk!
NOTE: Sites listed in this article have NOT been tested or verified by Friends of the Petaluma River or the City of Petaluma. Use at your own risk!
Using Images and Video
An in-depth explanation of how you are allowed to use video and images in your Watershed Classroom Video Award Submission.
An explanation on the legal use of images from coyprightlaws.com.
NOTE: Sites listed in this article have NOT been tested or verified by Friends of the Petaluma River or the City of Petaluma. Use at your own risk!
Filming a Public Service Announcement
Link to the Public Service Announcement description on Wikipedia.
A link to the article "How to Make the Perfect Public Service Announcement" by the Center for Digital Education.
A page containing past winners of a similar award in the Russian River Watershed. NOTE: Be inspired by these videos. Do not copy them!
2017 Winning Submission:
Pollution Solution
Alisa Dreyer & Logan Douglas
Petaluma High School
The 2017 contest explored stormwater pollution in the Petaluma Watershed.
PLEASE NOTE: The duration of this video was in accordance with 2017 contest guidelines.
Currently, videos submitted for consideration must be either 40 or 55 seconds long.
