How Do You Celebrate #ocsbBlackJoy? – 2023 Black History Month Video Contest

The #ocsbBlackHistoryMonth Video Contest is back as an opportunity to see and hear how OCSB students celebrate black joy during Black History Month. The contest is open to students of all grades. If you are looking for ideas, please, take a look at last year’s winners.

What can you Win?

The top three submissions in each panel (Elementary, Intermediate, and Secondary) will be showcased on March 29, 2023, at a live ceremony at Notre Dame High School.

Winning schools will receive resource packages to support Black excellence initiatives within their school community.

What do you have to do?

The following is a short description of the criteria for entering the video contest. You can find more information, including the rubric for scoring the entries, in this document.

General Requirements

  • 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), and Secondary (Grades 9 to 12). Secondary submissions should be made through the school’s Black Student Association.
  • Videos must be student-led but supported by 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. 
  • It must be linked to the OCSB Spiritual Theme, “Gratitude rooted in joy, fills us with hope”, and the Declaration for People of African Descent.

Some questions your video should answer

  • What does Black joy mean to you? 
  • How does your school celebrate Black joy? How does your school encourage Black joy? 
  • How does your school community nurture, recognize, and celebrate the diversity of Black identities?

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 can you enter the contest?

After your school Principal approves your video, you can submit your video using the video contest entry form

The deadline to submit your video is Friday, March 3, 2023 at 5:00 pm.

Have fun!

We can’t wait to see all your submissions. We also hope you enjoy creating these videos and look forward to learning how your school celebrated #ocsbBlackExcellence!

Registration is open!

Have you registered your child for the 2023-2024 school year yet?

Register Today
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