Effingham County Student Media Festival Each year the Gifted Education Department and Media Specialists in conjunction with the Effingham County Board of Education sponsor the Effingham County Student Media Festival. Participation is open to all students in kindergarten through 12th grade.
Entries in the Student Media Festival may be produced and submitted by an individual student or a group of up to 3 students. Class projects are accepted for students in K-3 in the Sequential Stills category.
Students may only enter one project per category. Entries should be the original work of the student(s) and should be produced during the current school year. If the teacher provides a template for the project and students simply insert content, it is considered a class project, even if the projects are entered individually.
Projects entered in the Effingham County Media Festival must first be judged at the school level. Only the projects, which are judged Superior, should advance to district level competition. Schools can submit no more than a total of thirty (30) projects in all categories advancing to district level. Once, a project is judged at the district level the project may not be edited for submission to a higher level.
Categories
1. Live Action – Live Action includes full motion productions that generally have on- screen talent in the form of actors, or narrators. A computer may be used for titles, credits, overlays, and editing. Media accepted are CD, or DVD.
2. Animation – Animations include drawn images, clay models, and/or real-life models that are animated to create the illusion of movement. If a project integrates live action and animation, it falls under the animation production type. Media accepted are CD, or DVD.
3. Sequential Stills – A Sequential Stills production is a series of images with text, music, video clips and/or narration added. The order that the stills are viewed is determined and fixed by the producer. Electronic picture books and electronic photographic essays are included in sequential stills. Sequential stills are often created in slideshow software like Microsoft PowerPoint or Photo Story. Media accepted are CD, or DVD.
4. Interactive Stills – Interactive Stills are similar to websites, however they are not live on the Internet. Interactive Stills include images that are viewed in the order chosen by the viewer. Interactive Stills use navigation buttons and/or menus to enable the viewer to select a path. Text, music, video clips and narration may be incorporated into an Interactive Stills production. Media accepted are CD, or DVD.
5. Podcast – A podcast is a digital audio program that can be downloaded and played on a computer or digital audio player. A podcast can be a stand-alone item or one of a series, though only one of the series should be submitted. Files should be in mp3 or mp4. RSS files are not required. All podcast entries must be available for download from the Internet, but due to technological uncertainties all podcast entries must include a backup CD or DVD. Enhanced podcasts with images are accepted but will be considered equally with standard podcasts. Video podcasts are not accepted. *Podcasts that receive a superior rating and go on to the ISMF must be available on the Internet until after the 2012 ISMF.
6. Websites -- A website is similar to an Interactive Stills however, it must be available on the Internet until November of the festival year. Media accepted are CD, or DVD, but a live URL must be provided. Important note: A “site map” must be included inside the project envelope. (It may be in either a flow chart or table of contents format that gives the judges information on bringing up the website.) All websites must be hosted on a host approved by ECSD Technology personnel. *Websites that receive a superior rating and go on to the ISMF must be available on the Internet until after the 2012 ISMF.
7. Special Category - Sequential Stills Class Project - K-3 Only - This is a special category for Sequential Stills where a teacher is allowed to provide considerable guidance to the students, such as when a teacher structures a template and the students produce the content. This production type is intended for younger students just learning how to create media projects. Media accepted are CD, or DVD.
Length - Productions should be between 3 to 7 minutes.
Judging
A minimum of three judges will evaluate each project.
Divisions - Projects will be judged in grade level divisions; K-3, 4-5, 6-8, & 9-12. If a group of students representing different grade levels work together to produce a single project, the project will be judged at the highest grade level.
Criteria - Projects will be judged using rubrics from the Georgia Student Media Festival.
Copyright - It is the policy of the Effingham County Board of Education to comply with all provisions of Copyright Law and Fair Use Guidelines.
Copyright Law and Fair Use Guidelines allow for limited use of portions of copyrighted material in student productions. It is important that students adhere to the following limitations or submit proper approval from the copyright owner. · Motion media– 10% or 3 minutes text material – 10% or 100 words · Music- Up to 10% or 30 seconds · Illustrations and photographs – up to 5 images of an artist or photographer in its entirety, no more than 10% or 15 images from a collective work
Willful disregard for the Copyright Law and Fair Use Guidelines may result in disciplinary action and disqualification of projects. Refer to the Student Code of Conduct in the Effingham County Student and Parent Handbook.
Awards Projects may receive the following ratings by the judges; Participation, Merit or Superior. Each student will receive a certificate.
Judge’s Favorite - At the completion of the festival each judge who scored 10 or more projects may select one project as a Judge’s Favorite. Judges’ Favorites will receive additional recognition.
Scores will be posted on the Effingham County Schools’ intranet. Projects not advancing to the next level of competition will be returned with score sheets after the scores are posted.
Projects receiving a Superior score at the State level may advance to the International Student Media Festival. Entry fees will be paid by the school. Parent permission and a signed media release must be obtained.
It is possible that some projects, which receive a Superior rating by the judges at the district level, may not not advance to the State level. In the event there are more than 40 projects, which receive a Superior rating, the projects will be ranked and the student questionnaires will be evaluated by the Media Festival Sponsor to determine which projects should advance to the next level of competition. After reviewing the projects, the County Media Festival Sponsor may allow additional projects if the quality of all projects is truly Superior.
If a class project advances to a higher level of competition, the Media Festival Sponsor will represent the class to receive any awards, which might be earned. The class will not attend the International Media Festival.
Projects that are entered in media competitions without advancing from the school, to the district, to the State, to the International level, will not receive support and funding as Effingham County Media Festival projects.* This includes any project for which a district category is not available.
* Students representing the Effingham County School System in system sanctioned competitions (GHSA, VICA, FFA, FBLA, GMEA, etc.) who advance to and beyond the regional level of competition to compete at the state/national level, as well as leadership events as directed by program/industry certification, must be approved by the Superintendent or his designee. The normally expected competitions are included in these organizations. Effingham County Board Policy Important Dates:
School Projects must be submitted on or before February 16, 2012 Projects will be judged on or before February 24, 2012
District Superior Projects from each school must be submitted (and uploaded) on or before Friday, March 16th, 2012 Projects will be judged between March 19th and March 30th, 2012 using Moodle and the following week.
State Each school sponsor must complete paperwork for registration (database) on or before April 4th, 2012 and physical projects delivered to Peggy Helmly by April 11th, 2012 (district winners only).
Additional information may be found at www . gait - inc . org / GSMF / index .htm and www . ismf .net . Revised 1/12/2011