A student team from Santa Ynez Valley Union High School (SYVUHS) wins 1st place with their video 'News Splash', while 2nd place goes to 'A Splash of Light' from Pioneer Valley High School in Santa Maria. The 3rd place winner is 'Drought Tolerant Gardening', from Bishop Garcia Diego High School in Santa Barbara. A People's Choice Award, which recognizes the video with the most 'likes' on the contest's Facebook page, goes to students from Dos Pueblos High School for their video, 'Double "O" H2O'. In addition, another SYVUHS video, "Try Water Preserving" was judged to be the top scoring video among several "Honorable Mentions". All together, the 20 submitted videos attracted over 67,000 views on Facebook and demonstrated how social media can deliver important conservation messages.
In addition to monetary awards issued to each of these five winning schools, this year for the first time, the contest has private sector sponsors providing a variety of awards directly to the students. Specifically, Lynda.com is issuing each of the 1st place students a 1-year subscription to Lynda.com's extensive library of online videos; Aqua-Flo Supply is giving the 2nd place team gift charge cards totaling $250; Ewing Irrigation is providing the 3rd place team with gift charge cards worth $150; Samy's Camera has gift certificates totaling $500 for the People's Choice winners; and Deckers Corporation is providing gift certificates for Teva shoes to the top Honorable Mention team.
The County Water Agency and local water providers thank all the students who participated in this year's contest, which included the following high schools: Bishop Garcia Diego, Cabrillo, Dos Pueblos, Dunn, Laguna Blanca, Pioneer Valley, San Marcos, Santa Barbara, and Santa Ynez Valley Union. On behalf of those students, the County Water Agency also thanks our private sector sponsors for their generous support. More information on those sponsors can be found at: www.lynda.com, www.aquaflo.com, www.ewing1.com, www.samys.com, and www.deckers.com.
To see any of the winning videos from this year's contest or videos from previous years, please visit the WaterWiseSB.org High School Video Contest page located here: http://www.waterwisesb.org/contest.aspx?id=392. Most importantly, please remember to be water wise; Let's save together!