2013 Water Wise Video Contest Winners Announced

For the second year in a row, a student team from Pioneer Valley High School has won 1st place with their video, ‘Water Wise Ways’. The video contest, sponsored annually by the Santa Barbara County Water Agency and partnering water providers from across the County, requires participating students to create 30 or 60 second videos about water conservation. According to Matt Naftaly, Manager of the Santa Barbara County Water Agency, “Students were challenged to communicate important advice about the wise use of water while also making sure their video can be a memorable and entertaining public service announcement”.

In a shift away from past venues, this year’s awards ceremony took place for the first time in a movie theatre, where the student producers, their families, and teachers saw their films on the ‘big screen’. Taking place in Buellton’s Parks Plaza Theater, this 14th annual awards event celebrated the students’ creative approaches to conserving water.

Another first for this year’s contest was the People’s Choice Award, which recognized the video with the most ‘likes’ on the video contest’s Facebook page. Students from Dos Pueblos High School won this inaugural prize with their video, ‘Bob’s Dilemma’. All together, the 16 submitted videos reached over 34,000 viewers through Facebook and demonstrated how social media can deliver important messages. Also recognized this year was 2nd place winner ‘Keep Santa Barbara Water Wise’ from Laguna Blanca, and 3rd place winner ‘Save Water, Be Happy’, from Dos Pueblos High School.

Students from the following high schools participated: San Marcos, Bishop Garcia Diego, Dos Pueblos, Santa Ynez Valley Union, Laguna Blanca, Ernest Righetti, and Pioneer Valley. The County Water Agency and local water providers thank all the teachers and students in this year’s WaterWise High School Video Contest.

To see any of the 16 videos or videos from previous years, please visit the WaterWiseSB.org High School Video Contest page.