British Embassy in Moscow, British Council and the Russian Regional Environmental Centre announce a Climate Change Contest for students of Moscow schools.

The Contest is a part of the international project 'Odyssey 2050'. The main purpose of Odyssey 2050 is to involve teenagers and the youth in the climate change issues.

Many movies are being made about climate change, but only few of them are targeted at the young audience. Odyssey 2050 will be the first ever feature-length movie created specifically for young people and with their direct participation.

To date a 6-minute short film has been completed under the technical supervision of Thelvin Cabezas, the director of the animation for the film 'Avatar'. It shows what will happen in the year of 2050 if human beings do nothing about climate change (watch film at www.odyssey2050themovie.org web-site). The idea of the Contest is to encourage young people to express their ideas on how the film might be further developed. This can be done by submitting written ideas, graphics, videos, including the actions which should be taken in their communities to prevent the climate change. Students can write the plot and choose what a message the film might have.

The jury will select 3 best plots that will receive awards, and will be submitted to the production team to include these and other most interesting ideas from all over the world into the final feature-length version of the film.

Who can take part in the contest?

The Contest is open to students who study English and are enrolled in private or public schools in Moscow. Participants are welcome to work in teams with their classmates.

Rules of the Contest
In order to be eligible entries must be in English, focus on climate change issues and contain ideas that the Odyssey 2050 production team might be interested to use in its feature-length film for young people. All types of entries (scripts, PowerPoint presentations, audio, video files, etc.) are welcome.

Submission of Entries
Entries should be submitted to climate-konkurs@yandex.ru with a mark "Competition" in a subject. File name must be in English and contain a name/number of the school.
The first page of a writing entry or digital presentation must contain a name/number of the school and a list of authors.
Audio and video files must be uploaded to the Internet. A link should be sent to climate-konkurs@yandex.ru. A name/number of the school and a list of authors must be given within an e-mail message.

The deadline for the entry submission is May 31, 2011

Evaluation Criteria
Entries will be evaluated by the organizers of the Contest and independent jury according to the following criteria:
1. The Ideas presented in the entry may be used as a plot of a feature-length movie based on the 6-minute film.
2. Communication of the urgency of the climate change challenge and importance of its abatement. Solutions to the problem are proposed for different levels of decision-making and different aspects of human life (changes in personal behavior, lifestyle, policies, business models, energy consumption, industry, transport, municipalities, etc.) or just for one aspect but with clear understanding of a comprehensive manner of problem.
3. Creative ideas and approaches, unusual and interesting format of the entry.
4. Relevance of the entry to young audience
5. Good command of English language (grammar, stylistics, proper climate change vocabulary)