Arkansas Department of Health’s Be Well Arkansas initiative is offering cash prizes to encourage registered student organizations at Arkansas colleges and universities to participate in the “Cancel COVID on College Campuses” video contest.
According to information provided by the Arkansas Department of Health (ADH), submitted videos should “explain how college students can prevent the spread of COVID on their campus and in their surrounding community in a short (30 seconds to two minutes) YouTube video, that uses entertainment, emotion, creativity and/or humor to motivate students to respond.”
First prize will be $5,000. The runner-up entry will receive $2,500, while 10 submissions will be recognized with $1,000 honorable mention awards.
Deadline to submit entries is Nov. 6, 2020.
This video prize challenge is open to any registered student organization that can create a video that meets all the requirements of this challenge. No individual entries will be accepted. Each group may submit more than one video.
All videos are strongly encouraged to:
o Contain a balance of emotional storytelling and clear, relevant, motivating information
o Discuss the link between tobacco use, diabetes and COVID-19
o Discuss the importance of getting a flu vaccination
o Highlight campus diversity and include messaging that is inclusive to all groups including racial and ethnic minorities, non-English speakers, persons with disabilities and others
o Consider using languages other than English
o Defining COVID-19 terms such as isolation, quarantine, case contact and case investigation
o Contain messages that encourage the proper use of cloth masks and discourage gaiters, bandanas and masks with valves
o Encourage testing and reporting results to the appropriate campus entity
o Contain messaging about avoiding crowds
Each submission should include:
o Link to a 30-second to two-minute digital video
o Team information in a Word or PDF document that briefly states or provides:
a. Letter from an appropriate school official that states the submitting organization is a registered student organization and has permission to enter the contest; the school official can include, but is not limited to: a faculty member, director of student life activities, chancellor’s office, sorority and fraternity school director, etc.
b. The name of the registered student organization and names of people who were involved in production of the video
c. What campus organization(s) will receive the prize funds if awarded
d. What activities will be supported if awarded funding (state what project activities will be implemented if you received prize funds)
e. How, within whatever resources you have available, you will distribute this video, increase its virality, and ensure that members of the target audience
Suggested social media hashtags associated with this campaign include #bewellArkansas and #cancelCOVID.
All participants in submitted videos must adhere to mask and social distancing recommendations and requirements. Videos not adhering to these recommendations will be excluded from the contest.
To apply, participants should e-mail the required information to Danny.Baxter@arkansas.gov at any time during the submission period with the subject line “Video Challenge [Team Name], [Title of Video].”
When applying, student organizations should include a web link to the video and the required written information as described above.
Visit healthy.arkansas.gov for more information.
