Video Contest

2011 Video Contest

Sponsored by The Lotte and John Hecht Memorial Foundation.

Prizes:

Topic:

Natural Disasters: The Economics of Aid and Recovery

Earthquakes in Haiti, New Zealand, and Japan, hurricanes in the Southeastern United States, and tsunamis in Southeast Asia and Japan are all natural disasters that had devastating and far reaching effects on economies worldwide. Disaster economics looks at how to minimize this damage. Governments can improve policy failures that are exposed by natural disasters. However, the opposite often occurs and laws enacted to help disaster victims, actually end up hindering recovery.

Use an economic concept to examine what role government should have in protecting natural disaster victims.

A natural disaster is considered to be a non man-made event that leads to widespread loss of life or damage to property. It can include earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, tsunamis, floods, cyclonic storms, hurricanes, tornadoes, blizzards, drought, famine, or wildfires.

Some economic concepts you may choose to consider:

• Supply and demand – price gouging, inflation, scarcity
• Property rights and the rule of law
• Regulation
• Incentives
• Competition

This is not an exhaustive list – get creative with your video. You may use an actual historical event (i.e. Hurricane Katrina) or a hypothetical natural disaster (i.e. a flood) to outline a concept.

Download Video Contest flyer (PDF)

Application Rules:

Entries
Step 1: Video and Concept Paper
Deadline: December 30, 2011

Before you create your video, summarize your ideas in a concept paper. Your concept paper must include a focus statement, an approach statement and a brief description of the video’s storyline and timing (maximum one page), and will be compared with your completed video by our judges. (See our Student Guide for details.)

Then it’s time to get filming! Videos can be a maximum of 3 minutes long and must comply with all YouTube™ and legal guidelines.

Once your video has been posted to YouTube™, you must submit the URL and your concept paper using the online form.  All submissions will receive a confirmation email, and you will then be asked to declare that you have full legal rights to all video content.

Step 2: Get Your Friends to Vote
Viewer’s Choice voting begins as soon as your video is uploaded on YouTube™. The videos with the highest number of likes on January 15th, 2012 will win cash prizes of $625. In the event of a tie, or a winner with questionable content, a winner will be declared at the sole discretion of the Fraser Institute.

Eligibility:
Submissions will be considered from secondary and post-secondary (undergraduate and graduate) students, in all disciplines, from anywhere in the world.

A secondary school student is defined as someone who attended secondary school (high school) in the 2010/2011 school year or is enrolled to attend in 2011/2012. Students completing secondary school in 2011 should enter in the secondary school category.

A post-secondary student is defined as a person who is attending a post-secondary institution in the 2010/2011 school year or is enrolled to attend in 2011/2012.

Judging Criteria:

A panel of judges will determine the award winners based on understanding of the topic and economics, the strength of their argument, clear expression of ideas, production values and originality. Videos will also be assessed on their fulfillment of the concept paper.

General rules:

• Viewer’s Choice winners will not be excluded from winning judged prizes.
• In the event of a tie for the Viewer’s Choice category, or a Viewer’s Choice winner with questionable content, a winner will be declared at the sole discretion of the Fraser Institute.
• Team entries are allowed, however, only one prize will be awarded for each winning video.
• Limit of one entry per student or team.
• Entries will be accepted in English and French.
• Entries must not go over 3:00 minutes.
• Finalists will be asked to submit a copy of their video on DVD.
• Entries must comply with all YouTube™ and legal guidelines.
• All entries become of the property of The Fraser Institute. In addition to receiving cash, winners may have their videos presented at Fraser Institute student events.
• Failure to follow these rules may lead to disqualification from the contest.

Need help getting started? Check out our Student Guide or our Teachers' Guide to the Video Contest.

For more information call: 1-800-665-3558 Ext. 526 or email yuhui.kiang@fraserinstitute.org.

Read questions students have asked us.

2010 Video Contest

We are pleased to announce the winners of the 2010 Student Video Contest, The Nanny State: Is Government Regulation Threatening Your Personal Freedom?

2009 Video Contest

We are pleased to announce the winners of the 2009 Student Video Contest, What is the Appropriate Role of the Government in the Economy?

View all the winning videos

Need help getting started?

• Student Guide (PDF)
• Teachers' Guide (PDF)