What R U Doing? California Sea Grant Student Video Contest

The contest is open to all California Sea Grant-funded students working on a Sea Grant research project (Isaacs research assistants, graduate trainees, and Sea Grant-NMFS Fellows) funded during any part of the period June 1, 2009–May 31, 2012. The goal of the contest is to provide the general public with an engaging look behind the scenes of coastal marine research through YouTube videos of 3 minutes or less in length. Student employees of California Sea Grant or California Sea Grant Extension are not eligible.

California Sea Grant staff will review videos and select the winners. Three cash prizes of $1,000, $750 and $500 will be awarded. Entries must be uploaded to YouTube by the entrant. Send an email with a link to your YouTube video entry, your name, your CA Sea Grant project number and project title, and cell phone number to Marsha Gear at mgear@ucsd.edu by 5 p.m. PDT, Friday, June 22, 2012.

Judging will take place the week of June 25. Winners will be announced on the California Sea Grant website and will be personally notified. Prizes will be awarded in August. At the discretion of CA Sea Grant staff, all or some of the submitted videos may be linked to the CA Sea Grant website.

  • Videos should be NO LONGER than 3 MINUTES and show what you are doing in your CA Sea Grant project.
  • All video submissions should start with a question, e.g., “What am I doing in (coastal marine science/aquaculture/sustainable resource use)…?” Your video should answer the question, demonstrated through any creative method.
  • All videos should end with your name and relationship to CA Sea Grant (e.g., “I am _____[name], a CA Sea Grant trainee”).
  • No copyrighted music or images may be used in the videos.
  • Judges will base their decisions on your ability to convey basic scientific content to a general audience, and your video’s originality and entertainment value.

Additional rules: Video content may not include unlawful activities; use threats, violent comments or harassing language; include content deemed inappropriate by CA Sea Grant staff; employ a false identity of another person, or share personal information about an individual (including their full name, address, phone number, etc.) without their permission.