Massachusetts Contest Categories, Rules and Guidelines            PDF
Comments on Copyright Questions

Categories:

WRITING, Future Fiction

VIDEO:

  • Public Service Announcement (PSA), 30-60 seconds
  • Shorts, 4-6 minutes: Creative or Documentary
  • Feature Length, 20-30 minutes: Creative or Documentary
  • NEW: “Micro-Docs”, less than 90 seconds
  • NEW: In addition to creating a story, you may enter a film of a song, a rap, a play, a performance art piece – the possibilities are endless.  

Finalists

  1. Up to twenty finalists will be chosen from each category, the maximum number to be determined at the judges’ discretion. 
  2. All entries, which will be reviewed by three judges, will be judged equally on the quality of the piece and on the thought and educational experience that is evidenced in the work.
  3. Finalists will be announced on May 1, 2008, with the Awards Reception scheduled for May 16, 2008 at Genzyme Center in Cambridge, MA. 

Rules

  1. Entry content must be related to energy.  Energy use, changes in energy use, changes in energy policy, changes in the energy industry, or changes in the environment as a result of energy choices, must be an underlying premise in the work.
  2. If creating a future-fiction creative entry, the content must be realistic about energy; any technology that is not already known and being used must be already known to be technically possible, and justified in terms of net energy use.  The entry or afterward should include some discussion of the cost and time-line to develop and deploy this technology.  No magic solutions, gift-giving aliens, dilithium crystals or ZPMs are allowed!  (Time travel is allowed under poetic license if you are writing an alternate history.)
  3. Near Future Fiction written entries must be 1,500 to 7,500 words.  Video PSA’s must be 30 to 60 seconds long.  Micro-docs should be less than 90 seconds.  Video Shorts must be 4 to 6 minutes long. Video Feature Length entries must be 20 to 30 minutes long.
  4. Creative Videos can include stories, but they can also include a video of a musical creation, a play, or any other performance art form.  Videos can include animation to illustrate examples or comprise the entire content. 
  5. Each entry must be accompanied by a short afterward (200-to 500 words) that summarizes what you have learned in your reading and research about energy and/or the environment and includes a particular aspect that was the starting point for you.  Include any references, graphs, or other data, as appropriate.  
  6. Each entry should be sent as an electronic file to itomorrow@theforesightproject.org and long (feature length) video file entries must also send a DVD of the video to Imagining Tomorrow, Box 341, Harvard, MA  01451. 
  7. An entry form must accompany each entry; the entry form can be downloaded here or on the home page.  It is a Microsoft Word Form, and should be filled out, saved and then resent as a Word document with the entry. 
  8. All email entries must be received by midnight April 22, 2008, EST.  DVDs must be post-marked no later than April 20 with an electronic copy of the entry form sent by email no later than April 22, midnight EST. 
  9. Entries in any category, written or video, may be collaborative efforts.  An entry may be part of any school or youth organization project, or from individuals not associated with any group or organization.  All authors’ names must be included on the entry form with a contact person designated for the group.
  10. The upper limit for entries is for youth working at a 12th grade educational level.  All entries will be judged at a high-school age level; at this time there no middle school level. 
  11. Decision of the program manager(s) regarding any questions on the rules will be final. 
  12. Please note comments on copyright guidelines.

Guidelines

Creative Near-Future Fiction Story (written or video):  Stories can be about anything; they can range from apocalyptic to pessimistic to optimistic to utopian. They can take place anywhere in the world, any time from tomorrow to twenty-five years from now.  They can be alternate history stories, based on some change in our recent past that creates an alternative present or future world.  They can cut a broad swath dealing with economics, politics or the environment on a global scale, or they can be intensely personal, about one person in one day or one moment.  Energy must, at a minimum, provide a context or backdrop for the story but need not be the theme of the story—although it could be.

Video:

Documentaries, All Lengths:  This could be a great opportunity (and a lot of fun) to learn about one of the many sustainable energy projects in your region, to get to know a clean energy business and understand their potential and limits of growth, or even to document another renewable energy project that your colleagues are involved with, from a Science Fair project to a class on the latest high-efficiency building techniques.

Interview people who have adopted clean energy strategies; people in a town that permitted a wind tower or wind-farm, and find out what they thought of the project during the permitting process and how they feel now.  Tour a green school or green building; talk to a recycling center; there are endless possibilities. 

Video Public Service Announcements:  Use your imagination; how compelling can you illustrate your conclusions about your topic?

Creative Projects:   These can be stories, but they can also be other art forms.  From “John Brown’s Body” to “We Shall Overcome” to Gil Scott-Heron, music has always been a way to unite and inspire.  Write a play: The Crucible had a major role in shifting thinking in the McCarthy era.  Again, use your imagination. 

When your video project is complete, try contacting your local cable access channel to see if they will air it locally.  Any questions should be addressed to itomorrow@theforesightproject.org.

Good Luck – and most of all, Have Fun!