In January, the Midwest Technology Assistance Center [1] at the Univ. of Illinois announced the winners of a contest it had sponsored in which high schools were invited to develop 30-second to 1-minute public service videos as a way of informing the public, with a positive message, about the value of water and the importance of maintaining a safe, dependable water supply for their communities.
Students at Bradley Bourbonnais High School won first place in the “Value of Water” contest. Their video about a quest for water that’s more precious than gold was produced as a project for their biology class. The winning video received a $1000 prize.
The goal of the contest was to develop public service videos that demonstrated, in a funny, positive, and creative way, the value of community tap water to our everyday lives. Students were asked to consider what would happen if we no longer had tap water readily available in our homes, schools, and in our communities.
The contest was open to any high school student or student group in Illinois. The judging was based on three factors: delivery of the message, creativity and originality, and the quality of the production.
Several organizations, in addition to those mentioned above, were involved in the contest committee. They included:
- Illinois American Water
- Illinois Section of the American Water Works Association
- Illinois EPA
- Tazewell County Health Department
- Association of State Drinking Water Administrators
- Illinois Science Teachers Association
- Illinois State Water Survey at the University of Illinois’ Institute of Natural Resource Sustainability
The contest committee sent several of the videos to television stations around the state for airplay as public service messages.