ClimateCraft Student Reporting Contest
This fall, our editorial team will recognize outstanding reporting from Bay Area college students for stories about climate change, resilience or adaptation, and communities across the greater Bay Area region.
We will select winning submissions for individual entrants in three categories: individual written reporting, individual multimedia reporting, and team reporting. All winning entries will be published on the KneeDeep Times website. In addition, first place winners in each individual category will receive $500, and second place winners will receive $250. The winning team category submission will receive $1,000 to be divided among the team members.
Guidelines for All Entries
- Submissions must highlight climate adaptation, climate resilience, and/or climate justice in the Bay Area region.
- Students are welcome and encouraged to submit stories from reporting originally done for a class assignment or school newspaper, so long as KneeDeep Times retains rights to publish the final submission if selected as a winner.
- Entrants must be college students (undergraduate or master’s) or recent graduates (within six months of receiving a degree) with some connection to the greater San Francisco Bay Area (i.e. have lived, researched, or attended school in the region.)
- The deadline for entry for all categories is 9AM PST on Friday, October 14 (extended from the original deadline of September 16.)
Guidelines for Written Entries
- Articles must contain between 600-1,000 words.
- Articles should be submitted as PDFs or Word docs with your initials in the file name.
- Finalists may be given an option to submit photos or videos to complement their articles if appropriate, but contestants should not submit any content besides their writing at this stage of the contest. If your storytelling is primarily through a non-written medium, please see our multimedia reporting contest guidelines instead.
- Entries should include a headline and the full text of the submission. Please do not include your name within the submission document.
Guidelines for Multimedia Entries
- A multimedia piece may include a small amount of writing, but must have a non-written element (i.e. audio, video, photo, etc.) as the primary medium telling the story. Examples of multimedia reporting we will consider include, but are not limited to, video, audio, and graphic or photo essays.
- Video and audio submissions should be at least 5 minutes long, and no longer than 7 minutes.
- Photo essay submissions should include at least 10 photos with descriptive captions.
- Entries should include a headline and the full text of the submission. Please do not include your name within the submission document.
- If you have a question about whether your multimedia submission would be appropriate for this contest, please ask [email protected].
Judging Criteria
Your submission will be judged on the following criteria:
- Specificity: How well does it adhere to the themes of climate resilience and adaptation in the Bay Area?
- Execution: How well does it craft a compelling story?
- Originality: How well does it expand upon an unfinished story, or tell one that hasn’t been told before?
- Depth: How well does it integrate multiple perspectives, storylines, and subjects.
Additional consideration will be given to stories that reveal a connection to social equity and environmental justice.
Optional Prompts
You may find the following prompts useful as starting points for crafting a submission:
- What is one neighborhood/town/city doing to better prepare for fires/drought/flooding/heat waves?
- What ongoing local story has an underreported climate angle?
- Who are the organizations and people pushing the envelope with climate adaptation actions?
What is Climate Adaptation and Resilience?
The following written and multimedia articles are examples of reporting on the themes of this contest. Please be original, and feel free to reach out if you’re unsure whether your story fits the scope of this contest.
Future Class Projects
The editors are interested in working with professors and teachers to shape class storytelling projects covering climate resilience, social and biological sciences, and other topics. If you are an interested educator feel free to contact [email protected]
Other Recent Posts
Citizen Methane
Methane, a potent greenhouse gas, leaks from abandoned wells across the country. Curtis Shuck has been finding them by hand, well by well. But finding the leaks is where satellites and citizens come in.
Imprisoned with Climate Change
Climate change has a disproportionate impact on incarcerated Americans. Juan Moreno Haines, one of 2.3 million prisoners in the US, describes his experience.
Artists Circle Confronts Climate Displacement and Just Recovery
The climate crisis in driving the displacement of people around the world. In the midst of the pandemic, an artists circle began developing new approaches to the issue.
Future-Proof Homes?
Oona Khan dreams about her home of the future, after losing her Malibu retreat to fire. Caught in a quagmire of legal battles with Southern California Edison, and surging construction costs, Khan is still waiting to start construction.
The Case for Climate Castles
As climate change throws more extreme events at us, isn’t it time to think bigger, bolder, further ahead? Six young architects draw climate-resilient castles.
Looking for Justice at the Nexus of Housing and Climate Policy
How housing is built and who it is built for are not only equity questions, but also climate mitigation questions. When people can afford to live near their jobs, their emissions from commuting go down.
Bittersweet Beach Outing to See King Tide
On a clear morning in January, a group of tide worshippers gathered at the Santa Monica Pier to “celebrate the ocean and build our climate community,” said Laurene von Klan.
Safer at School from Wildfire Smoke?
Research confirms the drastic impacts wildfire smoke has had on school learning. But 16 East Bay schools now have updated air filters and more actions are in the pipeline statewide.
My Neighborhood Wised Up to Fire
When we fled the house in the Santa Cruz mountains that we had been living in for just nine months, we knew exactly two of our neighbors.
Extremes-in-3D
In Part 1 FIRE, KneeDeep explores where to expect debris flows from burn scars, how one neighborhood became fire wise, and what schools are doing to become safe havens.
