Petaluma River Video Contest
Student PSA to Protect the Health & Vitality of the Petaluma River
Friends of the Petaluma River, in collaboration with the City of Petaluma, is offering three awards to high school students and three awards to junior high school students for the best videos answering the following prompt:
What is a Slough, anyway?
Many people think the Petaluma River is polluted just because it's brown and smells — but did you know it’s actually a tidal slough? Create a fun and educational video that clears up this common misconception.
What makes a slough different from a regular river?
How do tides affect water flow, plant life, and animals in our local ecosystem?
Why does the color or smell of water not always mean it’s dirty or unsafe?
How can we protect and appreciate this unique natural system?
Prizes
FIRST PLACE $500
SECOND PLACE $250
THIRD PLACE $100
Video Guidelines
Videos can be a skit, newscast, music video, documentary style video, or even an animation. We encourage students to be creative!
Videos should be exactly 55 seconds long. The last scene of the video must include the Friends of the Petaluma River, Watershed Classroom, and City of Petaluma Logos (Available for download on our website).
All entries must be created by students without professional assistance (Teacher advice ok).
Contestants must have rights to all media (sound, music, images) included in the video. See below for resources.
Each entry should be submitted in one of the following formats: .mp4, .mpg, .wmv, .avi, or .mov.
Entries must be submitted with sources cited for all visual and audio media. This will be part of contestants’ entry form, not included in the video.
Videos should be submitted with entry form (available or download on our website).
Deadline:
Videos must be submitted using the link above by March 2nd, 2026, at 11:59pm
Who is Eligible?
Students grades 6 through 8, and 9 through 12, at any school in Petaluma or Penngrove are eligible. This includes Petaluma, Casa Grande, San Antonio, St. Vincent de Paul, Sonoma Mountain, and Carpe Diem High Schools. Home school students are also welcome.
Students may work in teams but cash prizes will be split between them.
Winners Determined By:
Accuracy and clarity of knowledge shared
Creativity
Video quality
Edits
Contestants may be required to edit videos before receiving award money.
Always keep an editable version of your video on a device which you have access to even when school is not in session.
Additional Resources:
What is a public Service Announcement?
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_service_announcement
Why isn’t there music in the public domain?
Copyright law information:
pdinfo.com/copyright-law/copyright-and-public-domain.php
Where do I purchase royalty free music?
Pdinfo.com
Bensound.com
Where do I find public domain images?
Free Image Sites: pexels.com;
commons.wikimedia.org
How to find Public Domain images on google:
support.google.com/websearch/answer/29508?hl=en