Sandy Shorelines Social Media Competition

The Association of Caribbean States (ACS) has been continuously working on its Sandy Shoreline Project Initiative. The goal of this project is to rehabilitate the coasts of participating member states, which have been adversely affected by sea level rise due to climate change. This is a very important issue that needs to be addressed and ACS is undertaking this work to ensure the resilience of coastal communities.  

In an effort to maintain the goals of the Sandy Shoreline Project, ACS will be organizing a coastal erosion based competition aimed at students. This competition will be part of the Project and its campaign and will be held in the months leading up to the Symposium.  

This competition will create a means for students, and by extension the general public, to gain knowledge about coastal erosion and its effects, while allowing them to think about ways in which coastal erosion can be prevented and how the effects can be alleviated. It will play an important role in allowing students to see the effects of coastal erosion for themselves, as they will be asked to go out on the beaches and take pictures. It will also bring much needed awareness of the negative impacts of coastal erosion in the Greater Caribbean region.

This competition is a component of the Sandy Shorelines Work Plan, as it is an interactive and far-reaching way to generate interest not only around the project itself, but also the general topic of beach rehabilitation. In particular, we would like to reach out to students at all levels of education, especially those within regional universities.

For the competition, participants are asked to go to any beach that is available to them and take a photo of the beach erosion with their camera phone. They can then take their photo and post it on Facebook, attaching a hashtag related to "Sandy Shorelines" and tagging the ACS page. Participants will need to name which beach they are using in their post. Along with the image, participants must write a caption to accompany their image.Only captioned images will be considered valid entries. In the caption, they must:

• Describe the beach erosion exhibited in the accompanying image.
• Give your opinion on how erosion is negatively affecting your beach, either aesthetically or functionally.
• Any possible solutions that can be implemented to stop the erosion process.

After they have submitted their post, they can take their title and send it separately to an email along with their personal information such as name, age and what school they attend and their contact information as well as a direct link to their social media post. This will allow us to have an easier time contacting the winning participant.

Prizes will be awarded based on the following criteria:

The best proposed solution

•  $1,500 USD and a trip to Panama to present at the IPReM 2023 Conference.

The most liked submission

• 1st Place: $1,200 USD 
• 2nd Place: $800 USD 
• 3rd Place: $500 USD 

School with the most submissions

• 1st Place: $3,500 USD 
• 2nd Place: $1,500 USD 
• 3rd Place: $1,000 USD 

Rules and Guidelines:

• Participants must be a citizen of or currently residing in an ACS member state. See official ACS member states here: Members and Associate Members | ACS-AEC
• Participants must be between ages 16 – 25 and currently enrolled in high school or University.
• The photo can be taken with any kind of camera, whether it be a mobile phone or a professional camera.  
• Photo format can be any of the following: Landscape, Portrait or Square.  
• If the participant chooses to film a video, then the limit is one (1) minute.
• The attached caption must not exceed 500 words. 
• Even if the participant submits a video, they are still required to also submit a written caption. 
• Participants are required to include or tag the location of the photo in the Google submission form and Instagram caption.
• Participants are required to attach the tag #SaveourshorelinesACS to their Instagram post.
• All photos submitted through the Google submission form must be a high-resolution digital image in the JPEG format. The image should not exceed 2MB in size. 
• No digital manipulation of the submitted photos is allowed and is grounds for disqualification. 
• Collages will not be accepted. One image per submission. 
• The submitted image must be an original work by the participant. 
• Staff and their immediate family members of the ACS and its affiliates are not eligible to participate in the contest.
• The ACS reserves the right to disqualify any photo submission that does not conform to the rules and guidelines.

Deadline for submissions: 30 April 2023

Entry form link:
https://forms.gle/qhs38sXfUjXrhco68