Meijer Great Choices Film Festival

Kathy Richards

Van Singel Fine Arts Center

A Kelloggsvile is among 60 Michigan high school students who were named as finalists in the Meijer Great Choices Student Film Festival. More than 300 videos were submitted for the annual film festival.

Tiler DeWitt, who attends Kelloggsville High School, is in the running for the 60 awards totaling $21,150 in prizes that will be awards to students on Saturday June 2, for the winning entires in the 2018 Meijer Great Choices Film Festival. The 10 a.m. awards presentation will be at the Van Singel Fine Arts Center, 8500 Burlingame Ave. SW, Byron Center.

High School students from throughout the state, submitted more than 300 :30 public service announcement videos promoting positive choices in the areas of Character Education, Healthy Living, and Celebrating Diversity. There are two different audiences that the young filmmakers targeted in their PSA’s: Kindergarten through 6th or 7th through 12th grades. DeWitt submitted his film in the K-6 Celebrating Diversity category. The Meijer Great Choices competition was designed for Michigan student film makers to exhibit their creative talent in audio/visual communications and to share their messages with K-12 schools throughout Michigan.

High school students working on a film. Photo courtesy of School News Network.

Audio/Visual/Advertising students and professors from Compass College of Cinematic Arts, Ferris State University, Cornerstone University, Grand Valley State University, Northwood University and Western Michigan University were the preliminary judges and choose the anonymous finalists based on specific criteria. High school students throughout Michigan have been notified that they are finalists and are invited to participate in the June 2nd awards presentation activities. There are eighteen 1st, 2nd and 3rd place winners that will be announced at the awards presentation who will receive prizes of $1,500, $1,000, or $500 in the form of a gift card to Meijer. The 42 runners up (fourth through tenth place winners) will each receive a gift card for $75. All of the finalists in attendance will receive an award and gift at the awards presentation.

All 60 of the top PSA’s will be shown at the Awards Reception at the Van Singel Fine Arts Center. In September, the winning PSA’s in each category will be reproduced on DVDs and distributed to schools across the state as tools for their Character Education, Health Education and Diversity programs.

The Meijer Great Choices Film Festival also awards 12 classroom grants totaling $3,300 to K-8 classrooms who submitted video entries in the Meijer Great Choices Junior Film Festival competition. These PSA videos will also be recognized at Saturday’s Awards event.

The purpose of the film festival is to highlight the talent of the state’s audio/visual students while allowing these students to make a positive impact on Michigan’s K-12 youth in the areas of Diversity, Character Education, and Healthy Lifestyles. The festival is in partnership with Meijer, Gerald R. Ford Presidential Foundation, The Vander Laan Family Foundation, and the Van Singel Fine Arts Center.

The Meijer Great Choices Student Film Festival kicks off its ninth year of encouraging young film makers from around the state to create short PSAs that inspire K-12 students to make positive life choices!

The Meijer Great Choices Film Festival offers two levels of competition:

HIGH SCHOOL COMPETITION

Public Service Announcements submitted by high school students are part of a state-wide education initiative promoting positive lifestyle choices. Students in grades 9 through 12 are asked to create a PSA that is no more than 30 seconds in length and address one of three topics: 1.) Building Character 2.) Healthy Living or 3.) Celebrating Diversity. Each student must also specify a target audience for their PSA(s) as either K-6^th or 7^th-12^th grade.

Entries (:30 PSAs) submitted on DVDs will be accepted now through Feb. 10. The cost is $10 per entry or $5 per entry if submitted by the Jan. 19 Early Discount Deadline. Judging will take place March thru April and winners will be announced in late April. An awards event will be hosted for the 60 high school finalists, their families and friends on June 3, at the Van Singel Fine Arts Center, when more than $21,000 in prizes will be granted in the form of gift cards to Meijer or Apple. Six students will receive top prizes of $1,500, six second place winners will receive $1,000, six third place filmmakers will receive $500 and 42 semi-finalists will each receive $75.

JUNIOR CLASSROOM COMPETITION

Michigan K-8 teachers can win up to $500 for their classrooms by entering their class in the 2016 Meijer Great Choices Junior Competition. Teachers are asked to guide their students through the process of making a 0:30 Public Service Announcement(s) for K-6^th grade audiences, addressing issues of Good Character, Celebrating Diversity, or Healthy Living. PSA submissions will be accepted Feb. 1 through 24. Winning PSAs are determined by public vote and winners will be notified in April.

Students and their teachers can download registration materials and guidelines at www.meijergreatchoices.com.

The competition’s Legacy Partners, Gerald R. Ford Presidential Foundation, The Vander Laan Family Foundation, and the Van Singel Fine Arts Center will once again team up with Meijer in promoting positive choices for Michigan students.

Audio/Visual students and professors from Compass College of Cinematic Arts, Cornerstone University, Ferris State University, Grand Valley State University, and Western Michigan University are the preliminary judges and will choose the finalists based on specific criteria.

In the Fall, the Film Festival makes 5,000 DVD copies of the winning PSAs for distribution to all schools in the State of Michigan (public, private and charter), to A/V teachers, students, and media. The schools are able to use as the DVDs as tools for their Character, Health and Diversity Education programs for the 2017-2018 school year.

For more information contact the Van Singel Fine Arts Center, at 616-878-6801 or 616-878-6135.