STAMFORD, Conn. (Sept. 27, 2016) – Forty-five years since Keep America Beautiful told people that “People start pollution. People can stop it.” in one of the most iconic public service advertising campaigns in history, the national nonprofit today launched a new effort which seeks to tap into the imagination and innovation of our nation’s youth to continue to advance its fight to End Littering in America.
The “How Will You…End Littering?” Video Contest, open to students in grades 9-12, asks the next generation of community stewards to share their ideas about how to end littering by educating and motivating people to properly dispose of their trash. The contest is sponsored by Keep America Beautiful along with the Foodservice Packaging Institute and Wrigley Company Foundation. Entries will be accepted from Sept. 26 through Nov. 7, 2016. To submit an entry and review Official Rules, visit EndLittering.Strutta.me.
“Our 1971 public service campaign 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,” said Jennifer Jehn, president and CEO, Keep America Beautiful. “Today, we look to our nation’s children to inspire us all and help us educate a new generation of individuals to do their part to create a country where every community is a clean, green and beautiful place to live.”
Students in grades 9-12 are challenged to tackle the issue of litter and littering behavior in America by creating a 30-60 second public service message video that conveys that littering is costly, harmful to the environment and economy, illegal and just downright wrong. Videos will be promoted through social media and other online channels as well as national and local market publicity efforts, sparking a campaign to encourage personal responsibility to make littering a socially unacceptable behavior.
Two Grand Prize Winners — one representing grades 9-10 and one from grades 11-12 — will receive an all-expenses paid trip for two to the 2017 Keep America Beautiful National Conference in Washington, D.C., with their video being showcased to more than 400 attendees as well as a GoPro Hero4 Black video camera and a $500 donation to the Grand Prize Winners’ school to support anti-littering activities.
For more than six decades, Keep America Beautiful has served as our country’s nonprofit steward of litter prevention. Litter is more than just a blight on our landscape. Litter is costly to clean up, impacts our quality of life and economic development, and eventually ends up polluting our waterways and oceans. Among its many initiatives, the Keep America Beautiful Litter Index and Community Appearance Index are step-by-step methods of assessing current litter conditions and other indicators which are used in thousands of communities and by municipalities nationwide. Its landmark research and other resources are available at kab.org/resources/end-littering.
The overall theme of video submissions should be inspiring, entertaining, non-judgmental, informative and optimistic. The videos will be 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 — will receive a GoPro Hero Session video camera, plus a $250 donation to the winning entrants’ school to support anti-littering activities. The first 25 eligible entrants will receive 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.
Eligible video entries may not contain copyrighted music that requires any additional clearances for the sponsors to use or post on public websites or to use in public forums of any kind or contain or reference any names, products or services of any company or entity or any third party trademarks, logos, trade dress or promotion of any brand, product or service. Individuals are encouraged to review the Official Rules prior to entering at EndLittering.Strutta.me.
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 state and community-based Keep America Beautiful affiliates, millions of volunteers, and the support of corporate partners, municipalities, elected officials, and individuals. To 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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