***DEADLINE EXTENDED TO MAY 22nd. SUBMIT TODAY!***

Watch this video for detailed instructions on how to submit your project
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6vSJOUG3B5c&t=122s

Where Courage Meets Creativity!

What is the Courageous Rhode Island Youth Media Contest?
CRI's Youth Media Contest awards 16 prizes -- including a $1,000 GRAND PRIZE AWARD -- to youth who use their creativity to challenge disinformation, political polarization, and violent extremism.

Who can participate?
Middle school, high school, and college students from across Rhode Island get top priority and students from around the U.S. are also welcome to participate. Students can compose media as part of an in-class assignment, an after-school program, or as independent learners. Support materials and suggested activities to help educators/community leaders inspire student creativity can be found here https://www.courageousri.com/_files/ugd/632005_6045070e0d0c4ecf981006cccf7841b5.pdf

What is the theme of the contest?
Student media submissions should relate in some way to CRI's themes of
- Practicing for media literacy and active listening
- Promoting intellectual curiosity and respect for diversity
- Helping people recognize and resist propaganda, disinformation, hoaxes, conspiracy theories and other harmful media

What types of submissions will be accepted?
Students may create media in one of the following formats:
- Video (including information, entertainment, or persuasion)
- Audio (such as original music, spoken word, or podcast)
- Images (such as photographs, memes, digital posters, billboard designs, etc.)
- Writing (including news stories, op-eds, poetry, or short stories)

When are key dates?
The contest opens on January 15, 2024 and submissions must be received by May 22, 2024.

Awards & Prizes

Awards will be given to the following categories:
- $1000 for the best overall submission
- Video - best middle school, best high school, best college/university & audience choice
- Audio - best middle school, best high school, best college/university & audience choice
- Images - best middle school, best high school, best college/university & audience choice
- Writing - best middle school, best high school, best college/university & audience choice

The competition will be judged by a panel of 10 community leaders, educators, and media professionals from Rhode Island who will award $7,000 in prizes. Students (and their teachers) will be formally recognized at a culminating in-person ceremony in spring 2024.

Rules & Terms

***Instructions to submit your project on FilmFreeway***
1. Create an account on Film Freeway using your name and email address. You will use this account to submit your project to the contest.
2. Select that you'd like to submit your work which will bring you a page where you can add a project.
3. To submit video, select "Video." For written submission, select "Script." Audio projects will select "Music/Songwriting." And graphic design/photography projects will select "Photography/Design."
4. Give your project a title.
5. List the names of other students who worked on the project in the "Credits." And don't worry about all of the other information that the form asks for.
6. Under "Specifications," click the dropdown box next to "Student Projects" and select "Yes." Then enter the name of your school.
7. Select "Save project."
8. On the following page, upload your project files by selecting "Add project files."
9. If your project includes video/photography of children under age 18, upload the signed and scanned parental permission forms (available on the contest website) under "Files and Attachments."
10. Visit the CourageousRI Youth Media Contest page on Film Freeway and select "Submit Now." The project you uploaded should appear at the top of the submit page.
11. Select the category that you are submitting to (video/audio/image/writing).
12. Fill in the other fields (teacher name, teacher email, artist statement, use of AI, use of copyrighted material)
13. Select "Add to cart and checkout." On the following page, it should read that you owe $0. Then select "Complete Order."
Required Information
Submissions (video, audio, image, writing) will be accompanied by:
- Name(s) and institutional affiliation(s) of each student creator
- Name and institutional affiliation of the teacher or program leader (if applicable)
- Teacher or program leader email address
- A 300 word "artist statement" in which the creators describe how their work corresponds with the themes of the CRI Youth Media Contest, the specific intentions of their work, and how their creative decisions helped communicate these intentions.
- List of copyrighted material included in the submission (if applicable, see below)
- Permission forms (if applicable, see below)
- Explanation of AI-generated material included in the submission (if applicable, see below)

Submissions will be evaluated according to the following criteria:
- Content Relevance & Intent (20pts): Does the submission align with the contest themes, and does the artist statement effectively explain this connection?
- Creativity, Originality & Conceptualization (20pts): How original and creative is the submission, and how well does the artist statement describe the creative process?
- Technical Quality & Execution (20pts): Are the technical aspects of the submission well-executed?
- Message Clarity & Effectiveness (20pts): How clear and effective is the submission's message?
- Effort & Reflection (20pts): Do the submission and the artist statement demonstrate sincere effort and critical reflection?

Length
Video and audio submissions may be no longer than 4 mins.
Written submissions may be no longer than 1000 words.

Copyright
Submissions may make use of copyrighted material (for example: image/video/audio excerpts for documentary/journalistic purposes, memes, remixes, etc.) if they meet the following requirements:
- Students make use of copyrighted material for an educational, creative, or informational purpose, and not to pass off someone else's work as their own.
- A list copyrighted material included in the submission (including author, title, date, and hyperlink if applicable) is included in the application in the designated field.

AI-Generated Material
Participants are encouraged to submit original work, rather than wholly relying on AI (including AI image/video generation, LLM's like ChatGPT, etc.) to create their submissions. Students may use AI to edit, supplement, or enhance their work, but are required to submit a written explanation of their use of AI.

Permissions
Submissions that include photographic images or video footage of any children under the age of 18 must include signed parental permission forms for each child with their submission.