Youths urged to enter Ozone Day video contest

As part of its activities to celebrate 25th anniversary of Montreal Protocol on substances that deplete the Earth’s ozone layer, Awareness Section at DM Environment Department urged talented youths to participate in online video contest announced jointly by UN Ozone Secretariat and Ozone Action Program.

Hamdan Al Shaer, Director, Environment Department at DM said in a press statement that educating young generation on the seriousness of the ozone-depletion threat that mankind face is need of the hour.

Not only educating them but making them active in initiatives to preserve our nature is aimed at by this video contest. We wish a good number of youngsters below 25 should participate in the international competition’ Hamdan said.

Head of the Awareness section Sara Ibrahim Al Sayegh said the competition is open to nationals of all countries born on or after 16 September 1987 and each person can submit up to two videos

‘Videos should highlight any aspect of the Montreal Protocol and how its implementation has helped protect life on Earth. It can focus on the local, regional or global levels’ she said.

‘It can be a Public Service Announcement (PSA) on ozone of not longer than one and a half minutes in duration. Entries can use live-action, animation, on-screen text or a combination of all these, supported by a soundtrack’ she further said.

Officials at Awareness Section said videos could be in English, or in any other language with English subtitles. Entries without words are also eligible, so long as they convey the relevant messages through images.

UN Ozone Secretariat has asked the participants to post the entries o OzonAction's YouTube website at: youtube.com/ozonaction, before 15 October 2012.

The global winners, selected by an independent international jury comprising of senior media managers and officers of UNEP Ozone Secretariat and OzonAction Programme, will be announced on 31 October 2012.

The organisers has also announced attracting prizes for the winners. The first prize winner will receive an all-expenses-paid roundtrip to Geneva, Switzerland, during the 24th Meeting of the Parties to the Montreal Protocol which takes place from 12 to 16 November 2012.The second prize will carry a US$500 prize and the third US$300. Seven runners-up will receive UNEP certificates.

Websites of Ozone Secretariat and OzonAction will be showing the top 10 videos which participated in the contest for one year.

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