EarthxFilm presented by EarthX (formerly Earth Day Texas) today announced the details for their 2018 Online Short Film Competition for students, ages 12 to 21, offering a total of $12,000 in prize money for the winning  filmmakers. Also announced was a year-round effort to STRIKE OUT STRAWS starting with EarthxFilm’s own event (April 13-22) and continuing with an educational awareness campaign through local area schools and businesses. The goal is to replace, remove, and/or prevent the use of at least one million single use plastic straws in North Texas in 2018.

“This film competition will mark our third since the launch of EarthxFilm a little more than a year ago. We continue to work toward inspiring the next generation of environmental activists, storytellers and global leaders by giving them a voice and a platform to share their thoughts about protecting and preserving our world,” said EarthxFilm Co-founder/President, Michael Cain. “Tying this announcement to our new STRIKE OUT STRAWS campaign is further evidence that we seek to not just inspire great ideas on behalf of the environment and or world, but to also do what we can to actively bring about those changes ourselves.”

ARTHxFilm’s Dennis Bishop and Michael Cain with a winning student filmmaker and a check that won’t fit into any ATM.

Utilizing two challenge topics as inspiration (STRIKE OUT STRAWS: Why should single use plastic straws be banned? and DON’T LEAVE ME BREATHLESS: Tell the untold story of oxygen and phytoplankton), young filmmakers (Ages 12-16, and 17-21) will have an opportunity to submit their narrative or documentary films of no more than 60 seconds in length, to compete for a total of $12,000 in prize money. Each age group will have a $1,000 Grand prize + a $1,000 prize for the school that submits the most entries. There will also be a prize for most online votes, as well as incentive prizes for early entries.

STRIKE OUT STRAWS will work to prevent this.

Sponsored in part by The Oxygen Project, the films will be judged by a team of film and environmental science professionals. Finalist films from both age groups will be screened at EarthxFilm during the film festival’s award ceremony at Fair Park, on Sunday, April 22. Student filmmakers in attendance will be recognized, treated to a mini green carpet experience and awarded prizes at the ceremony.

The deadline for early submissions is March 9, and the final deadline to submit is April 9. Additional information and a link to the entry forms can be found at EarthX.org/edu.

EarthxFilm’s and EarthxEDU’s STRIKE OUT STRAWS campaign will begin with the online film competition and an educational campaign that will continue throughout 2018 to raise awareness of the health hazards posed by the 175 billion plastic straws (500 million/day) that litter the landfills, waterways and oceans every year. Through film and a TEKS aligned STEAM based curriculum, students in North Texas will be encouraged to spread the word regarding the detrimental effects caused by the proliferation of plastic straws into the environment.

Maybe think about this guy the next time you’re using a straw…

As part of the campaign, EarthX will expand its outreach by challenging movie theaters, restaurants, event venues, businesses, and all of the festival’s vendors to strike out single use plastic straws completely or instead switch to biodegradable straws, which decompose in 30-60 days.

For more information visit EarthX.org/edu.