Congratulations to our 2012 Youth Ocean Conservation Film Competition Winners!

We're excited to announce the winners of our first annual Youth Ocean Conservation Film Festival! This competition, which was held in conjunction with our 2012 Youth Ocean Conservation Summit engaged students in grades K-12 in the creation of short films highlighting ocean conservation issues they're passionate about.

We received some outstanding entries, and would like to recognize the following contest winners:

Elementary School Category:
Ryan Moralevitz - My Wishes for the Fishes

Middle School Category:
Willy Jones - Together We Can Keep Litter Out of Their Homes

High School Category:
Casey Sokolovic - Help Them L.A.S.T. - Love A Sea Turtle

Lauren Baillie & Sabrina Angelides - Blue Rage: The Fight To Save The Sea's Bounty

Our 2012 competition winners will be recognized out our Community Ocean Conservation Film Festival at Mote Marine Laboratory on Friday, November 2nd at 7PM. If you'd like to attend this special event, which will also feature a screening of the award-winning film This Is Your Ocean: Sharks and the premier of the educational short film Rich History...Priceless Future: The Tarpon of Boca Grande Pass you can purchase tickets  at http://www.stowitdontthrowitproject.org/pb/wp_a9baf081/wp_a9baf081.html

We would like to congratulate all of our 2012 Youth Ocean Conservation Film Competition participants! We greatly appreciate your entries and work to protect our planet's marine ecosystems and encourage others to do the same. We'll be highlighting films submitted by all of our participants online over the next few months!

We'd also like to extend a special thanks to our 2012 Youth Ocean Conservation Film Competition partners, EarthEcho International and Mote Marine Laboratory for their support in making this competition possible!