We are pleased to announce our seventh annual Green-Schools Irish Water Poster Competition! This year’s competition’s theme is Let’s Take Climate Action for Water, which aligns with the theme for World Water Day 2020: Water & Climate Change.

This year we have added a new Secondary Schools Video Category, and we’re asking individuals or groups (max 20 people) to interpret the competition theme in a video format. The video competition prize is a one-day Video Workshop with a production company who will show your group how to create professional video content using free and easily available tools, along with €500 for your school.

The deadline for entries to this year’s competition is Friday, March 6, 2020.

Competition details & downloads

We are accepting a maximum of 10 entries per category, per school, but suggest you could initially run an in-school competition to determine the entries you wish to submit as this will link to Step Six of the Green-Schools programme: Involving and Informing.

We have sent a poster and information on the competition’s terms and conditions to all eligible schools. You can read a copy of our T&Cs by clicking here.

The age categories for entry are:

  1. Junior Primary (Infants – 2nd class)
  2. Senior Primary (3rd – 6th class)
  3. Secondary School (1st – 6th year)
  4. Secondary School Video Competition (1st – 6th year, max group of 20 students per video submission)

and the regional areas are:

  • Dublin County: Dublin City, Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown, South Dublin, Fingal
  • Eastern/Midlands: Wicklow, Kildare, Laois, Carlow, Offaly, Westmeath, Longford, Meath and Louth
  • Northern/Western region: Donegal, Leitrim, Sligo, Cavan, Monaghan, Galway City and County, Mayo, Clare and Roscommon
  • Southern region: Kilkenny, Wexford, Waterford, Tipperary, Cork City and County, Kerry and Limerick

Video competition guidelines

This year’s video competition is open to entries from secondary school students only. Students can enter as individuals or in groups up to a maxiumum of 20 people. The prize for this year’s winner/winners is a one-day Video Workshop in your school provided by a company through Green-Schools, to include catering on the day, along with €500 towards video equipment or your Green-Schools committee. The prize is for a maximum number of 20 participants and will be organised with the winning student/s’ school following notification of the award in late March 2020.

Videos must be submitted in landscape only and be no longer than 3 minutes in length. Videos can be submitted in three ways:

  • via Dropbox to: waterevents@eeu.antaisce.org
  • via Whatsapp to 087-0679947
  • or posted on a USB key to Green-Schools Irish Water Poster Competition, An Taisce Education Unit, 5a Swifts Alley, Francis Street, Dublin 8, D08TN88. Please note that we cannot return USB keys.

All entries should be accompanied by the names and year group information of the student/s who created the video along with their Green-Schools Coordinator’s contact details and school information. Entries submitted without this information will not be considered.

Theme: Let’s take climate action for water

There are many ways to interpret this year’s competition theme: Let’s Take Climate Action for Water. The theme is inspired by the theme for World Water Day 2020: Water & Climate Change but also incorporates a positive message of action – let’s all take action together for water!

  • Visit the UN World Water Day page here (it will be updated for 2020 in December 2019)

When speaking about this year’s theme in your classroom or among your school group a good place to begin the discussion is around the two water-focused Global Goals: numbers 6 and 14, Clean Water and Sanitation and Life Below Water.

The Global Goals website’s Resources section has further information on each goal, along with videos, materials, campaign information and images that could all be used as inspiration to begin working on posters or videos: https://www.globalgoals.org/resources

The World’s Largest Lesson website is a great resource for schools to help teach about the Global Goals. Their page on Goal 6 is: http://worldslargestlesson.globalgoals.org/global-goals/clean-water-sanitation/ and their page on Goal 14 is: http://worldslargestlesson.globalgoals.org/global-goals/life-below-water/. You might also become inspired by their page on Goal 131: Climate Action: http://worldslargestlesson.globalgoals.org/global-goals/protect-the-planet/.

Other tips:

  • The posters should inspire actions in others and carry a message linked to the competition’s theme – keep any lettering clear while also showcasing your artistic skills!
  • Don’t forget the theme! Keep this year’s theme in mind when creating your poster or video; we love seeing how our themes are interpreted each year and can’t wait to see what this year’s entries will do with the theme.
  • Don’t attach anything to the posters. Each poster will be reproduced for display at our awards and online so any items like sand, plastic, shells, collage materials, will not reprint easily and your message and work will be lost
  • Please reconsider the use of glitter on posters – as glitter is usually made from aluminium bonded to polyethylene terephthalate; it is a microplastic and pollutant. We love seeing the colourful and vibrant posters sent in and will love them all the same without glitter, we promise!
  • For videos, don’t use any music for which you do not own the rights. If you search for royalty-free music online you should be able to find music that fits your video without incurring any copyright issues.
  • Make sure you film your videos in landscape. As this is a requirement, any videos submitted in the portrait orientation will not be considered for the prize.
  • Have fun! Use lots of colour and have fun with your poster; while talking about climate change can sometimes seem like a lot of negatives, we hope that you can find the positive inspiration in taking action for our climate and water.

Questions?

If you have any questions about this year’s competition, your entries or your school’s eligibility please contact us at waterevents@eeu.antaisce.org and we’ll be happy to help.

View last year’s winning poster designs on our Flickr page.