Storyfest Competition: Tell an inspiring Story to move the Planet Forward

The Planet Forward Storyfest Awards highlight the voices of students, seeking to understand and illuminate  innovations for how to best care for the earth. They are looking for stories that inspire, motivate, and drive change. Stories that are compelling, thought-provoking, and vibrantly stimulating. Be memorable, have an impact — and have fun.

Topics

• These are the topic areas they’re hoping you will explore, and can reflect your studies, research, work, experience, or dreams:
  • Food: How can they feed the planet, grow better food, stop wasting so much of it?
  • Water: How should they use it, conserve it, clean it, get it to places that don’t have enough of it?
  • Energy: What are new ways to get it, make it cleaner, use it more efficiently?
  • Mobility: What’s a better way to get around, reduce congestion, minimize the impact on the environment and the climate? What has changed since the pandemic, for better or worse, and how can they look forward?
  • The built environment: How should they build for the future? What are the new materials, technologies or designs that will make better homes, offices, neighborhoods, cities and towns? How has the pandemic changed their view of city life?
  • Biodiversity: How do they preserve and foster their vital ecosystems?
  • Public health: What impact and takeaways can the environmental movement utilize from the pandemic and/or the response to it? How are climate change and the pandemic intertwined, and what can they learn?
  • Climate justice: How can they better implement climate policies and environmental initiatives that provide fair and equal treatment to all communities, and prevent discrimination in the systems that perpetuate climate change?

Award Categories

• Best Short Video
  • All video submissions should be one to eight (1-8) minutes in length with HD-quality audio and visual, and include an article, which should be fifty to two hundred (50-200) words describing the video without transcription. All video submissions must be uploaded to Vimeo or YouTube. If the entry is longer than eight minutes, a trailer must be submitted that satisfies the run time requirement.
• Best Social Media Video
  • All social media videos should be thirty to ninety (30-90) seconds in length with HD-quality audio and visual, and include an article, which should be fifty to two hundred (50-200) words describing the video without transcription. All social media video submission must be uploaded to Vimeo or Youtube and vertically oriented (9:16 aspect ratio).
• Best Written Story
  • All written submissions should be six hundred to one thousand (600-1,000) words and include a minimum of one (1) image, where the image is preferably taken by the Entrant, and feature interviews with two to three (2-3) sources.
• Best Multimedia Story
  • Multimedia projects may creatively combine elements of photography, video, audio/music, and other forms of digital art as, for example, incorporated into an Adobe Express story. All photograph submissions should utilize digital images with a minimum of one hundred and fifty (150) dots per inch (dpi) and feature detailed captions, not to exceed two hundred (200) words for each photograph. Each multimedia project should include a short article. The written portion should be two hundred to six hundred (200-600) words and should summarize the submission.  If a multimedia submission is prepared using Adobe Express or similar platform, an embed code and an additional written summary of one hundred to two hundred (100-200) words and one (1) photograph to be featured.
• Best Podcast
  • All audio story/podcast submissions should be three to fifteen (3-15) minutes in length with HD-quality audio and include an article, which should be fifty to two hundred (50-200) words describing the audio story/podcast without transcription, one (1) photograph to be featured, and a full transcription of the audio story/podcast for accessibility. All audio story/podcast submissions must be hosted on a third-party platform, such as SoundCloud or PodBean, and include an embed code.
• GW Award
  • Awarded to a University Entrant whose submission most clearly demonstrates the storytelling and academic excellence of University students, consistent with the University’s mission and vision.
• Spotlight Award
  • Awarded to the Entrant whose submission most deeply highlights underserved communities with a focus on the extraordinary people who are innovating, leading, and inventing to address climate change, environmental degradation and injustice, and unhealthy communities.
• Fan Favorite Award
  • All Finalists will be eligible for the “Fan Favorite Award.”  The “Fan Favorite Award” will be selected by a majority vote of 2025 Planet Forward Summit attendees and via public polling, advertised on social media such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Voting for the “Fan Favorite Award” shall begin on Monday, March 31, 2025 at 10:00 AM EDT and end on Thursday, April 17, 2025 at 5:00 PM EDT.

Eligibility Criteria

• The Award is open to any person who is
  • Eighteen years of age or older at the time of participation,
  • Currently enrolled in an accredited undergraduate or graduate university or college program (“Entrants”).
• Entrants may compete either as individuals or in collaboration with one additional person. The Award is void where prohibited or otherwise restricted by law, rule, or regulation.
• All applicable United States federal, state, and local laws and regulations apply to this Award and any Prize disbursement, including without limitation federal immigration or sanctions laws.

Judgement Criteria

• Storyfest entries will be judged in four areas:
  • Creativity and effectiveness of chosen format/s and storytelling techniques;
  • Excellence in written/verbal communication and/or technical and production skill;
  • Factual accuracy, including attribution of facts, data and quotes, and superior research that considers different perspectives; and
  • Overall potential impact of the storytelling.
• All submitted work will be reviewed by Planet Forward’s team of experts and winners will be determined by a panel of independent judges.

For more information, visit Planet Forward.