Students are being encouraged to give a voice to an environmental issue they feel is important to the Island.Bermuda National Trust (BNT), in partnership with Greenrock, has announced the 2012 Earth Day Student Video Competition to celebrate the global Earth Day event, which takes place annually on April 22.The themes for the competition are For the Island, For the Earth or For the Sargasso Sea. Students are invited to submit a short two to five minute video on the environmental theme of their choice demonstrating how they think change can be achieved. Students can enter as an individual, class, club or peer group. The deadline for completed videos is Tuesday, April 10.“We want to give these students a chance to empower themselves and show that they can do something like this and give a voice to an environmental issue to speak to their peers and community leaders,” explains Abbie Caldas, BNT’s education officer.Students and the general public will have the opportunity to view the winning videos which will be shown during school assemblies at the end of April and featured on both the Trust’s and Greenrock’s website. There are also plans afoot to create a local film festival to screen the videos.“The concept started with the video Falling off the Rock, which went viral and we thought a video competition would be a great way to attract the community,” says Mrs Caldas. “Videos can have a greater reach than any other medium and the secondary effects of the competition are that it might reach members of the community that can make things happen.”Within the themes, students have a huge variety of issues they can tackle. For classes, it’s a great way to integrate the curriculum into a different style of learning, says Mrs Caldas.“Any aspect of the curriculum can relate to this project,” she says. “An art class can make something out of recycled material, a math class can calculate their carbon footprint, a science class can take the pH balance of a pond.”Currently, the competition has received about 20 entries and the submitted topics are varied.Entries include interviewing the public on issues of waste management and supporting recycling initiatives, appreciating and understanding the benefits of Sargasso seaweed, and demonstrating the value of skateboarding as a means to connect young people to a positive image of being “on the streets”.Mrs Caldas says, “Earth Day isn’t just about planting a tree but also encompasses social issues and our lifestyle. Earth Day speaks to gang issues and society and is a celebration of what we have on planet earth and focus on what we need to do to protect it going forward.”She says the video competition is meant to give a voice to the issues on the Island such as our beaches or what we take pride in culturally.“Pick a theme and put your own little twist on it. It shouldn’t be so much a documentary or teaching something but it should show how we have an impact on something. Go in to a grocery store, pick up an item and ask where did it come from? You can show the process of how it travelled to Bermuda.”For more video inspiration and ideas, visit www.tvebiomovies.org.BNT is also making plans to organise a video workshop and provide mentors such as JP Rouja of LookBermuda and Andrew Stevenson, who is well-known for his whale videos, to provide helpful tips on editing and creating a finished video package.Students who are interested in entering the competition are asked to contact BNT to provide guidance and ensure they are eligible to enter.Students do not have to have the latest technology in order to participate, and Mrs Caldas says that some teams have even expressed using their camera phone. Through sponsorship funded by Argo Foundation and Montpelier Re Foundation for the project, BNT can provide cameras and software to students in need of the resources.***For further details and for more information on entering the competition visit www.bnt.bm or www.greenrock.org, and contact Abbie Caldas on acaldas[AT]bnt.bm to express interest.