Erika from the National Geographic Channel reached out to us asking for participants to vote among the six Web finalists in their “Preserve Our Planet” contest. The National Geographic Channel partnered with MonsterTRAK’s GreenCareers and ecoAmerica to put on this contest as part of National Geographic Society’s “Preserve Our Planet” initiative to inspire people around the world to think about conservation in all aspects of our lives. Does this goal sound familiar? ThingsThatMakeYouGoGreen loves this idea.
College students around the nation created submissions highlighting current conservation and preservation efforts and creatively discussed action people can take to help save the planet. The theme this year is “What you do counts”, which is exactly what we believe here at ThingsThatMakeYouGoGreen. There are three Web PSA finalists and three Web film finalists.
Web PSA finalists
- Melissa Courtney from University of Florida for “Get in the Habit”
- Pedro Jesus from Georgia State University for “Save the Environment”
- Ryan Stanisz from Cornell University for “The New Animal Kingdom”
Web film finalists
- Tyler Depke from Hope College for “STOP! Think Green and Save”
- Genna Duberstein from American University for “The Animal Cracker Nature Show”
- Alex Jeffries from UCLA for “The Experimental Generation”
The prizes are $1,500 for the Web film winner and $1,000 for the Web PSA winner. I’m not sure why the cash prizes aren’t the same, but both winners will also get a trip to Washington, D.C. where their work will be screened at the annual National Geographic Explorers gathering.
Go to the Preserve Our Planet contest homepage to vote. You have until March 28th, and you can vote up to once per day. It’s a bit odd, but you actually vote for the second place winner, while a panel of judges votes for the first place winner. Don’t worry though, the second place winners get the prizes I mentioned above as well as the trip to Washington, D.C.
The submissions are all super creative, clever, and inspiring. I wish the best to all the contestants. I won’t tell you my favorites, but feel free to let us know what you think. The National Geographic Channel would appreciate the feedback as well.
* Update: Kyle has just informed me that the voting deadline has been extended to Monday, March 31st at 5pm EST. Go check out the submissions and cast your votes.
Unfair tactics were being used to generate more votes for the Hope College video.
In response, the online voting period is extended to next Monday March 31st at 5pm ET so everyone has some extra time to cast their votes for their favorite film and PSA. The site will be revised shortly announcing the extension of the online voting period.