"Real Food Is" Video Contest

Win $1,000 to tell it like it is.

Create a short video that completes the phrase “Real Food is…” and you can win $1,000 for your school food project and an all expense paid trip (registration, travel, and lodging) to the 4th National Farm to Cafeteria Conference in Portland, Oregon March 19-21st, 2009.

Visit http://farmtocafeteriaconference.com/real-food-is-video-contest/ for all the details. http://www.youtube.com/user/FarmToSchool

THE CHALLENGE

Produce a 30 second to 3 minute video that informs, inspires, and encourages student advocacy to restore connections to community, food, land, and place through Farm to Cafeteria programs. It’s recommended to include the following:

1. What does real food mean to you?

2. How does what we eat affect our culture, health, economy, or environment?

3. Make the case for why your cafeteria should start or continue buying local food.

Our friendly food service professionals do a great job with the limited funds and resources they have to produce a healthy balanced meal. Did you know that on average only $1.00 is available to spend on the actual food in your school lunch? What can you do to help?

THE PRIZE • Two winners, one k-12 video and one college video entry, will receive $1,000 for their cafeteria food project; • One representative from each winning video entry and a select chaperone win an all expense paid trip (registration, travel, and lodging) to the 4th National Farm to Cafeteria Conference in Portland, Oregon March 19-21st, 2009. • The winning videos will be viewed at the conference and prominently displayed on the Farm to School website.

THE TIMELINE • SUBMISSION DEADLINE – February 8, 2009. Entries will start being accepted at 12:00AM January 1, 2009. • Challenge finalists will be selected by a panel of prestigious judges, including leaders in food and film in early February 2009. • The general public will vote online for the winning videos February 9-14, 2009. • The winning videos will be announced on February 17th, 2009.

THE DETAILS • This contest is open to K-12 and college students. • Videos can be any style: fiction or documentary, animated or live action. • Videos cannot be longer than three minutes or shorter than 30 seconds. • Videos must have English subtitles if not in English. • Click here for the Official Contest Rules.

HOW TO ENTER

1. Make your video!

2. Create a YouTube account if you don’t already have one. You can use a parent’s account if you are under 18, or create your own account with your own email address. Make sure you get your parent’s permission before setting up your account.

3. Upload your video to YouTube: Go to the Farm to School page on YouTube and click “Join the Group”. Choose “add videos” at the top right of the page. Select videos from your lists of videos to add to this group. Your videos should appear on the left side of the page. Check the box and then click the “Add to Group” button. Click “Done.”

4. Email us at [email protected] and let us know that you’ve entered the contest along with the url for the video. Please send us your name, age, and the name of the YouTube account holder.

5. Tell all your friends to vote for you and enter their own videos!

This contest is sponsored by Action for Healthy Kids and the Community Food Security Coalition.

If you have any questions, contact Debra Eschmeyer at 419.753.3412 or [email protected].

Resources:

FARM TO SCHOOL: useful information on everything farm to school.

BIG IDEAS: a great resource for guiding questions on who food is connected to culture, health, and the environment.

Below are some stock recommendations to help get you started. All resources are subject to terms and use set forth by each organization.

IMAGES

Flickr: farm to school set: http://www.flickr.com/photos/uepi/sets/72157594341746884/

iStockphoto www.istockphoto.com

morgueFile www.morguefile.com

MUSIC

eStockMusic www.estockmusic.com

AudioMicro www.audiomicro.comhttp://farmtocafeteriaconference.com/real-food-is-video-contest/