Environmental PSA Competition in Michigan

Building Excellence in Science and Technology (BEST Early) and the Benton Spirit Community Newspaper are partnering with the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy’s Office of the Environmental Justice Public Advocate and Honor Credit Union to promote environmental education and awareness through the Environmental Fridays Public Science Announcement (PSA) Video Contest.

The Environmental Fridays public science announcement (PSA) video contest is open to all high school and college students in the state of Michigan. BEST Early and Environmental Fridays are nonprofit science educational organizations founded by Desmond Hartwell Murray, associate professor of chemistry at Andrews University. Environmental Fridays is a guest speaker lecture that convenes on Zoom every Friday morning at 9:30 a.m. EST. Speakers come from across the United States and the Caribbean. Current Season III episodes can be viewed at this link. Benton Spirit is a local community newspaper located in Benton Harbor and founded 21 years ago by Princella Tobias. Feature stories and updates about the contest will be covered and published in the Benton Spirit. The sponsorship was made possible through collaboration with community assistant vice president Karol Behrle, of Honor Credit Union, and Regina Strong, Michigan's Environmental Justice Public Advocate.

The contest requires that participating students create a two-minute public science announcement (PSA) video on an environmentally related topic. Entries can be submitted by individual students or teams of students and will be judged in two categories: high school and college. Videos will be evaluated by the following criteria: science content and accuracy, persuasiveness, critical thinking, originality and creativity, video length, and video organization, flow, and clarity. The top three videos in each category will be awarded $250, $150 and $100 at the end of each Environmental Fridays season, which coincides with fall and spring academic periods. The top videos will be announced and played exclusively during end-of-semester Environmental Fridays episodes on Dec. 16, 2022, and May 5, 2023. These videos will be uploaded to Environmental Fridays YouTube playlists, featured on Michigan EGLE’s Classroom website and used in EGLE’s Environmental Education programs.

It is anticipated that the Environmental Fridays video contest and the guest speaker series will supplement and contextualize classroom science courses in relevant and real-world environmental topics and concerns. It is our hope that the contest and guest speaker series will inspire, inform, engage and encourage reflection and action by youth and adults, students and the public on environmental issues such as pollution (air, water, soil), climate change, biodiversity, conservation, environmental health, environmental justice and inequities, and sustainable development.

Plans and discussions are ongoing to expand the Environmental Fridays PSA video contest beyond Michigan to across the United States and Caribbean.

For more information about the Environmental Fridays PSA video contest and possible involvement with Environmental Fridays Guest Lecture Series, contact Desmond Hartwell Murray at murrayd@andrews.edu. Please also see the Environmental Fridays PSA Contest Guidelines and the Environmental Fridays PSA Application Form.