Launch a Student Video Competition in 5 Steps

YouTube reports that the consumption of video content has been growing at a pace of 100% every year. Just think about that for a moment. No matter how many funny cat videos, tutorials, or video game walkthroughs you watch every day, you’ll be watching twice as many this year as you did last year.

The staggering rise of Facebook Live proves people are not only super excited about the consumption of video content but also love producing it. One of the best places where you can utilize the power of video production is in an academic setting. We certainly hear students being blamed often enough for playing online games and watching videos all day long. Instead of complaining, we really ought to focus on how to make use of this obsession.

Why you should organise a student video competition

Whether it’s a primary school or a college, many educators make the same mistake with learners of different ages. They teach them to be consumers and not creators.

Every day we deal with a huge number of communication platforms, from television to photography. The culture of media is so deeply rooted in each of us that we can’t — and shouldn’t — ignore it. Calvert E. Schlick, the superintendent of the Mamoroneck, NY school district in the 1970s, was one of the first educators who introduced the concept of transforming passive information mediums like TV into active learning tools. As Schlick used to say, we learn by doing. In other words, learners will derive much more value if you put a camera into their hands rather than show them a video. If you want to dive deeper into Schlick’s theory of active media learning, check it out here.

In the same way, launching a student video contest means you prioritise creation over consumption and help students activate their existing knowledge to create something new.

How to launch a student video competition

So how do you encourage students to create their own digital content? While there are thousands of contest themes and ideas, it’s critical to remember that you have a very demanding audience to deal with. Always ask yourself two key questions: Will this activity make my students use their skills in a creative way? Can it actually be more exciting than playing a video game? If you answered yes twice, the contest is a go.

To help you plan the video competition journey, we’ve packed the key contest set-up processes into five simple steps. This guide is based on the IPDCtalks student video contest powered by UNESCO, which focused on the sustainable development of media.

1. Pick a relevant theme.

“An interesting 10-minute video” isn’t a contest theme that will distract a student from playing a video game. Make sure you keep a clear focus on one exciting theme that sets your video contest apart and resonates with the classroom. You can tie a theme to a specific subject, a workshop discussion, or a buzzy social trend. The main rule is that every participant should feel that it’s personal to them in one way or another. IPDCtalks organisers used “access to information” as a focal point because it’s an issue that raises many concerns for people working in the media.

2. Set the rules.

Student video competition guidelines should cover two important aspects: terms of participation and objectives. We recommend starting with objectives since they will help you define the rules. For IPDCtalks, it’s about bringing the brightest idea about sustainable media to the main conference in Paris. The winner will get a chance to make his or her statement while being interviewed by the UNESCO team. Obviously, this is epic. Therefore, the organisers decided to collect short videos (three minutes max) to attract as many creative ideas as possible. Use this simple from-goal-to-rule flow to set up meaningful terms of participation.

3. Create the working criteria for your contest.

A video contest can be judged by a professional board of experts, teachers, or peers. Even if the submissions will be evaluated by random online users (although we don’t recommend this format for academic contests), they should be acquainted with the list of evaluation criteria. Here are a few examples of video contest criteria:

• visual design
• quality of production
• newsworthiness
• originality of a concept
• humour
• inspiration
• specific social impact

You can also break the criteria into several groups, such as technical requirements, creativity, value offer, and more.

4. Polish the judging process through technology.

The process of video contest evaluation should be based on a clearly defined judging framework. The must-have elements of this framework should be a detailed voting plan, a set of criteria, a mechanism for votes collection, and communication channels. For online submissions, we recommend pick online platforms using a single software toolkit that will help you stick to the framework. Check out our top three solutions for automated video contest management:

• Woobox: This is a good solution for running video contests on social media. If you’re focused on creating a fun, buzzy campaign for students, this is a good fit.
• Judgify: A cloud-based, online system for award campaigns that helps private and public organizations set up contests of any scope. Judgify should be your choice if you’re looking for a dedicated submissions portal and a judging toolkit.
• Strutta: This is a leader in terms of building promotional contests through video production. If the quality of video and marketing capabilities is really important in your project, then Strutta can meet your needs.

5. Choose a winner

In the content participation rules on IPDCtalks’ website, you’ll find a section called Awards. The organisers clearly identified that there will be three winners and also explained what the prizes are for each of them. This motivation booster is fundamental since it’s easier to get students engaged if you give them a worthy value offer.

On the technical side, ensure winner selection is supported by reliable technology. Depending on your judging tactics, pick online platforms that can process multiple voting streams and can record and calculate scores as well as enable personalised notifications on results announcements for all entrants.

Conclusion

Ten years ago we used to say “content is king.” Today it makes much more sense to say “video content is king.” The five steps we’ve described above should help you organise a student video competition that encourages active participation in a learning process through public voting and reduces the negative effects of information consumerism.