EPA and partners have launched the Environmental Justice (EJ) Video Challenge for Students to enhance communities’ capacity to address environmental and public health inequities. The goals of the challenge are to: 

1. Inspire students at accredited colleges and universities in the United States and its territories to work directly with communities in the identification and characterization of EJ challenges using data and publicly available tools, and
2. Help communities (including residents and other stakeholders) address EJ challenges and/or vulnerabilities to environmental and public health hazards using data and publicly available tools. 

The eligibility criteria for this EJ Video Challenge are:

• Open to undergraduate and graduate students (18 years and older as well as international students under the authority of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) 102(2)(F)) enrolled in accredited institutions of higher education (including community colleges) across the United States and its territories.
• At least one (1) faculty advisor is required to serve as a mentor to teams participating in the Challenge.
• Only teams who submitted videos in Phase 1 are eligible to participate in Phase 2 of the Challenge.
• There must be at least one (1) team member from Phase 1 who participates as a team member in Phase 2 of the Challenge. This is to help with continuity in cases where students graduate prior to Phase 2 completion.

NOTE: EPA recognizes that it is important to engage all available minds to address the environmental challenges the Nation faces. At the same time, EPA seeks to expand the environmental conversation by including members of communities which may have not previously participated in such dialogues to participate in EPA programs. For this reason, EPA strongly encourages all eligible applicants identified above, including undergraduate/graduate students from minority serving institutions (MSIs), to apply under this opportunity.

Prize Distribution for Phase 1 Winners

(1) First Place Prize of $20,000
(1) Second Place Prize of $12,000
(1) Third Place Prize of $6,000
Up to (7) Honorable Mention Prizes of $1,000 each

Learn more