Black History Month is an uplifting celebration of Black culture throughout history and the present day. We honour and celebrate all cultures at the Ottawa Catholic School Board, and during the month of February, we will be celebrating Black excellence throughout our community. We are proud to announce the OCSB Black Excellence Video Contest – an opportunity to see and hear how Black excellence is celebrated in our school board, directly from our own students!
Video Contest Details
Submissions that do not follow the following guidelines will not be accepted or considered for this contest.
- All submissions must be approved by the school principal to be considered for the contest. Each school can submit one video per panel: Elementary (Grades JK to 6), Intermediate (Grades 7 to 8), Secondary (Grades 9 to 12). Secondary submissions should be made by the school’s Black Student Association.
- Videos must be student-led with the help of an educator.
- A parent or guardian must sign a media release consent form for any student who appears in the video.
- The content of the video should represent equity, diversity and inclusion, and must be linked to the OCSB Spiritual Theme (Gratitude rooted in joy, fills us with hope) and the Declaration for People of African Descent.
- The deadline for submission is Thursday, February 17, 2022. Late submissions will not be accepted or considered.
Questions your video should answer
- What does Black excellence mean to you?
- How does your school celebrate Black excellence?
- How does your school community nurture and recognize Black achievement & success?
Technical requirements
- Videos should be a minimum of two minutes, and a maximum of four minutes in length.
- Please shoot your video in widescreen landscape orientation (i.e. 16:9 aspect ratio) in 1080p HD with 1920px by 1080px resolution.
- Please export and submit your video as in .mp4 file format.
- Any music used needs to be appropriate for a school project. Please credit any music or media that you use. Try to use royalty-free music. You can look to the Youtube Audio Library for royalty-free source material.
- Remember to be unique! Do not use elements found in other videos or media. Create your own.
How to enter the contest
After your video has been approved by your school principal, you may submit your video using the video contest entry form. The deadline to submit your video is Thursday, February 17, 2022.
Choosing the winners
The top three submissions in each panel (Elementary, Intermediate, and Secondary) will be showcased live on February 24, 2022, during a virtual premiere on the Board’s YouTube channel and the Board’s website. Winning schools will receive resource packages to support Black excellence initiatives within their school community.
Have fun!
We can’t wait to see all your submissions. We also hope you have fun creating these videos and look forward to learning how your school celebrated #ocsbBlackExcellence!