SANTA CRUZ COUNTY — The winners of the County-Wide Save Water and Pollution Prevention Video Contest have been announced.
The third annual student-made video contest was organized and sponsored by member agencies with the Water Conservation Coalition of Santa Cruz County (WCC), and the water pollution prevention programs from the County of Santa Cruz, the City of Watsonville and the City of Santa Cruz. Local high school video production classes offered through the Santa Cruz County Regional Occupational Program, youth video and technology production organizations such as Diamond Technology Institute, the Watsonville High Video Academy, and video production classes at Cabrillo College and University of California Santa Cruz were invited to make short public service announcement (PSA) videos in English or Spanish about saving water or preventing water pollution.
Some classes received presentations about water conservation and water pollution prevention to help educate the students about current water topics. This year, although there were no college-age entries, there were more than 70 entries that came from six high schools throughout Santa Cruz County. Winning videos came from Watsonville High, San Lorenzo Valley High, Harbor High and Aptos High School.

Water conservation staff and WCC members were invited to judge the videos.

Two award ceremonies are planned, the first will be at the Capitola City Hall today at 6 p.m. with the Soquel Creek Water District Board of Directors. Since a majority of the students who won the contest are from Watsonville, the students will be recognized at an award ceremony at the regular Watsonville City Council meeting on May 9.
The winning videos are posted on the WCC’s website: watersavingtips.org/resources/teacher-resources. The winning videos will air this summer on KION channel 5/46, the Spanish TV station Telemundo 23, and Watsonville’s public access channel 70.

The following videos were chosen for their video quality, entertainment value and ability to educate the viewer about conserving water or preventing water pollution.

Save Water Category:
• 1st Place (English) — A two-way tie, with both videos from Harbor High School students. The first video was a team effort by Charlie Diosdado, Noel Noguez and Jackson Moore, and the second video was made by the team of Max Holocher and Garrett Fernandes-McDade. Each team will receive an award of $500.
• 1st Place (Spanish) — Jacqueline Velasquez from Watsonville High School. She will receive $500 for her video on the topic of drought and groundwater.
• Runner-up (English) — Jasmine Brack from San Lorenzo Valley High School. She will receive an award of $350.
• Runner-up (Spanish) — A team effort by Remy Rodriguez, Oscar Serrano and Juan Centeno from Watsonville High School. The team will receive an award of $350.
Pollution Prevention Category:
• 1st Place (English) — Luis Castro from Watsonville High School. He will receive an award of $500 for a video on preventing pollution by using a car wash.
• 1st Place (Spanish) — A tie between two students from Watsonville High School, Crystal Velazquez and Jose Merino. They will each receive $500 for their videos.
• Runner-up (English) — A two-way tie. The first video was made by Aptos High School students Kolton Marquez, Kasie Tyler and Celine Rivera. The second video was made by Watsonville High School students Jesus Vasquez and Alex Parra Escoto. Each team will receive $350 for their videos.
