The La Grange Park Sustainability Commission is conducting a video contest to highlight the importance of reducing waste.
Entrants can hone their filmmaking skills that will and possibly win a $50 gift certificate in the process.
“The idea grew out of other ideas that commissioners were having,” Commissioner Laura McAllister, who ultimately suggested running the contest, said in a telephone interview. “It’s a very good way to do a public service announcement to educate people on the issue.”
“How Can We Reduce Waste in La Grange Park” runs Feb. 7 through March 7 and is open to all La Grange Park residents or members of community groups.
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The gift certificate is courtesy of Bill’s Place, a popular local pizzeria/diner located at 1146 Maple Avenue.
Entrants are required to submit a video between 60 and 120 seconds with ideas related to the importance of eliminating waste. Submissions will be judged on three criteria: clarity of message, creativity, and production quality.
McAllister said that of the three qualities, clarity “is the most important” followed by creativity and production quality.
She also noted that, with modern technology giving people video capability on their cellphones, producing a video was relatively easy, even for a beginner.
“I would advise that the video should be long enough to be informative, but not so long as to be boring,” McAllister said. “Creativity can involve making the video innovative or doing a little outside-the-box thinking.”
She also advised that while production quality would be the least important criteria “it can be a factor.”
As for what type of waste the Commission was targeting for reduction, McAllister said “we left that pretty open-ended,” although she stressed that food waste couldn’t be ignored.
“Food waste is nearly a third of all waste,” she said, citing a study from Lakeshore Recycling, the village’s recycling vendor. “That would probably be the biggest. After that would be paper and plastic, electronic waste like computers and old cellphones, which are often difficult to recycle.”
McAllister has years of experience, both in conducting contests and producing videos.
She produced videos as an undergraduate at the University of Kentucky, as an intern, and during a later stint at AmeriCorps. She also helped run a contest at UK while interning at the School of Agriculture, when she helped run a contest for a Design Logo for signs advising people how to reduce pet waste.
McAllister, born and raised in La Grange Park, graduated from Lyons Township High School and holds a bachelor’s degree from UK in English and Environmental Sustainability. She’s currently working to earn money for the UK Masters in Geography program.
“I’m hoping to get my Ph.D.,” she said (also in Geography).
In the final analysis, McAllister sees the video contest as an educational tool.
“I really want people to be aware of the contest so they can have an opportunity to educate themselves and their neighbors and offer specific and creative solutions,” she said.
For information on how entrant’s videos should be formatted and where to send them to, visit the La Grange Park Village website: lagrangepark.org