Keep America Beautiful Announces Winners of “How Will You…End Littering?” Video Contest
Two High School Students Receive National Award in Video Contest Focusing on Litter Prevention
STAMFORD, Conn., January 25, 2017 /3BL Media/ – The Grand Prize Winners were announced today for Keep America Beautiful’s “How Will You … End Littering?” Video Contest, which was open to students from grades 9-12.
- The 9th-10th grade category winner was Carter Rutledge, a 9th grade student at Daniel 1 Academy in Cookeville, Tennessee, with his submission entitled, “No Consequences.”
- The 11th-12th grade category winner was Rachel Ray, an 11th grade student at Baldwin High School in Milledgeville, Georgia, for her submission entitled, “End Littering.”
The contest is sponsored by Keep America Beautiful, along with the Foodservice Packaging Institute and Wrigley Company Foundation.
The “How Will You … End Littering?” Video Contest, which ran from Sept. 27 through Nov. 7, 2016, challenged high school students to address the issue of litter and littering behavior in America by creating a 30- to 60-second public service message video that conveyed that littering is costly, harmful to the environment and economy, illegal and just downright wrong.
The Grand Prize Winners received an all-expenses paid trip for two to the 2017 Keep America Beautiful National Conference in Washington, D.C. Their winning videos are being showcased in front of more than 400 attendees today. In addition, each winner received a GoPro Hero4 Black video camera and a $500 donation to their respective schools to support anti-littering activities.
“Litter is costly to clean up, impacts our quality of life and economic development, and eventually ends up polluting our waterways and oceans,” said Keep America Beautiful Vice President/Litter and Affiliate Relations Cecile Carson. “The ‘How Will You … End Littering?’ Video Contest sheds a light on these issues with those who will have the greatest future impact – our next generation of environmental stewards. Our contest participants are helping to motivate their peers and others to do their part to end littering in America.”
For more than six decades, Keep America Beautiful has served as our country’s nonprofit steward of litter prevention. Keep America Beautiful’s 1971 public service campaign – “People start pollution. People can stop it.” – inspired a generation of Americans to change their behavior and had a dramatic impact on reducing the amount of visible roadside litter in our country. Keep America Beautiful’s landmark research and other resources, available at https://www.kab.org/resources/end-littering, focus on the composition of litter and the attendant costs of littering. And Keep America Beautiful’s Litter Index and Community Appearance Index provide step-by-step methods of assessing current litter conditions and other indicators, which are used in thousands of communities and by municipalities nationwide.
The videos were scored by a panel of judges comprised of representatives from and associated with Keep America Beautiful, the Foodservice Packaging Institute and the Wrigley Company Foundation based on the following criteria:
- 25 percent engaging storytelling around an effort to end littering;
- 25 percent adherence to the brief outlined at EndLittering.Strutta.me;
- 25 percent originality; and
- 25 percent production quality.
Two Runners-Up — one in grades 9-10, one in grades 11-12 — received a GoPro Hero Session video camera, plus a $250 donation to the winning entrant’s school to support anti-littering activities. The first 25 eligible entrants received a $50 Best Buy Gift Card. GoPro video cameras being offered as prizes are made possible through funding provided by Dunkin’ Brands, the parent company of Dunkin’ Donuts and Baskin-Robbins.
- The 9th-10th grade category runner-up was Amee Neves, a 9th grade student at Waianae High School in Waianae, Hawaii, with her submission entitled, “Litter Bugs Me.”
- The 11th-12th grade category winner was Kanoena Sing, a 12th grade student at Mililani High School in Mililani, Hawaii, for her submission entitled, “End Ocean Pollution.”
GOPRO, HERO, SESSION, the GOPRO logo, and the GoPro Be a Hero logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of GoPro, Inc. BEST BUY, the BEST BUY logo, the tag design, MY BEST BUY, and BESTBUY.COM are trademarks of Best Buy and its affiliated companies. This Contest is in no way sponsored, endorsed or administered by, or associated with GoPro, Best Buy or their respective companies, affiliates and owners.
About Keep America Beautiful
At Keep America Beautiful, we want to ensure that beauty is our lasting signature. A leading national nonprofit, Keep America Beautiful inspires and educates people to take action every day to improve and beautify their community environment. We envision a country in which every community is a clean, green, and beautiful place to live. Established in 1953, Keep America Beautiful provides the expertise, programs and resources to help people End Littering, Improve Recycling, and Beautify America’s Communities. The organization is driven by the work and passion of more than 620 community-based Keep America Beautiful affiliates, millions of volunteers, and the support of corporate partners, municipalities, elected officials, and individuals. To learn how you can donate or take action, visit kab.org. Follow us on Twitter and Instagram, like us on Facebook, or view us on YouTube.
About Foodservice Packaging Institute
Founded in 1933, the Foodservice Packaging Institute (FPI) is the leading authority for the North American foodservice packaging industry. FPI encourages the responsible use of all foodservice packaging through promotion of its benefits and members’ products. Serving as the voice of the industry to educate and influence stakeholders, FPI provides a legal forum to address the challenges and opportunities facing the foodservice packaging industry. Members include foodservice packaging manufacturers and their raw material and machinery suppliers, restaurants, grocery and convenience stores, distributors and nearly 50 school districts, colleges and universities. Connect with FPI on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. Learn more at www.fpi.org.
About the Wrigley Company Foundation
The mission of the Wrigley Company Foundation is to help improve the health of people and our planet through sustainable initiatives, including those focused on the environment, particularly litter prevention, oral care, as well as local needs that ensure a healthy community. Since its founding in 1987, the Wrigley Company Foundation has donated more than $70 million USD to charitable organizations improving lives around the world. For more information, visit www.wrigley.com and www.mars.com.
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