Are you a student in grades 9-12?
Do you live in Grayson County?
Here’s your chance to win up to $1000!
During the pandemic, the competition took on a video format, this year’s competition will give students the option of creating a 3-5 minute video OR a poster. Contestants are invited to think creatively about how they can improve the community they live in while also meeting the triple bottom line of sustainability―being economically successful, protecting our environment, and promoting community involvement and well-being.
Prizes are as follows:
1st place $1000
2nd place $500
3rd place $250
A possibility of up to 5 Honorable mentions $50 each
Application Process:
- Be a student in Grades 9-12 in Grayson County or the City of Galax. This includes homeschoolers.
- Create a written outline to guide your project by completing the ONLINE ENTRY FORM
The form provides the template for this part of the contest.
- Identify a problem or a need you see in our community – it can be agricultural, economic, cultural, or related to health and the environment and feasible to accomplish here in Grayson County or Galax.
- Propose a solution – a product, business, service, or system that addresses the problem, which you can explain in video format, poster, slideshow or with other props.
- Explain how your solution works – who does it help? How does it help?
- Describe the obstacles that need to be overcome to implement your idea.
- Highlight the final goal and successful outcome.
- Create a video or poster. Using your outline as a guide, team up with one or two of your friends (teams are limited to 3) to create an original video or a poster or other visual presentation that helps your audience understand your project.
- Each participant must submit this Consent Form signed by a parent or guardian allowing their video, poster or photos taken during their presentation to judges to be posted on the GLC YouTube channel and other social media with their outline submission.
You will need Adobe Reader on your computer to download the form.
Please complete the ONLINE ENTRY FORM and submit your CONSENT FORMS by email to director@graysonlandcare.org by March 24th. Make sure you attach the consent forms for each team member. - The Competition Committee will review all submissions and select the top 15.
Those students/teams will be invited by Friday, April 3rd to present their projects at the LandFair Competition, on Sunday, April 23rd, 2023, in Independence, VA, Gate Center, 2-5 PM, to a panel of judges and community members. Set up for students is 12:30-1:30.
You will need to develop a display (video, slideshow, poster, or props) to set up on a table.
Contest Guidelines
The Grayson LandFair Competition offers students in grades 9-12 in Grayson County and Galax a chance to explore real economic, environmental and social problems facing Grayson County by suggesting innovative solutions that can really work in our communities based on one, or any, of Grayson LandCare’s three themes: enhancing the welfare of our community, local economy, and natural resources. You don’t have to be a scientist – you just need to want to make our community a great place to be!
Judging is in 2 parts: the written outline or Project Proposal and the in-person presentation. The Project Proposal is 1/3 of the overall score and the presentation is the other 3/4.
You can learn more about how the judging system and points allocated to each portion in the Judging & Presentation Guidelines Packet.
Project Ideas
Here is a sample of some of the past LandFair Competition projects:
- Grayson County Community Orchard
- Grayson County Community Garden Medicinal Greenhouses
- Harvesting Wind Energy Methanol from Saw Dust Commercial Composting
- Environmentally Friendly, All Natural Cleaning Products and Toiletries
- Creating and Marketing Eco-Friendly Fertilizers and Pesticides
- Creation of an Elk Creek Community Center
- Creation of a Community Coffee Shop
- Starting a Garden at the Nursing Home
- Sustainable Sheep Farming in Grayson County
- Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program and Riparian Buffers
- Raising Meat Rabbits in Grayson County
- Raising Alpacas in Grayson County
- Setting up a County-Wide Bee Hive Business
- Creating a Business Selling Organic Free Range Eggs
- Bird Watching Tourism
- Eco-Tourism
- Converting Homes to be More Energy Efficient
- Creating a Solar-Powered Greenhouse
- Building a Dog Bed Using Recycled Materials
Here’s a link to the winners in 2021. https://graysonlandcare.org/2021/05/video-challenges-winners/
Check out the report from 2017’s $1000 first-place winner 2017 Land Stewardship Winner
Resources
Grayson LandCare: We have experts available on many topics related to agriculture, land management, entrepreneurship, and the environment, and will be happy to put you in touch with someone who can help you gather information. Examples are raising and marketing beef cattle, rotational grazing, riparian borders, water quality monitoring, raising chickens/poultry for eggs and/or meat, market gardening, raising sheep for wool and/or lamb for meat, raising rabbits for fur and/or meat, farmer’s markets, forest management, harvesting hardwoods, non-timber forest products, raising medicinal herbs, and ecotourism and birding. To inquire about resources through Grayson LandCare, contact director@graysonlandcare.org
New River Hill Farm, a farm owned and operated by the New River Soil & Water Conservation District, is available for student projects www.newriverswcd.org/#!new-river-hill-farm/cfmd Contact Tracy Goodson thgoodson@embarqmail.net 276-236-7191 for more information.
Carroll County STEM Lab at Carroll County High School is available for use by students in Grayson County and Galax. The lab has microbiology and molecular biology equipment that would be helpful for projects dealing with crops, livestock, soil, water, and more. Contact Rachelle Rasco at rnrasco@ccpsd.k12.va.us to learn more about how to use the Lab for your project. Please note that you may need to purchase some consumable equipment such as petri dishes if used in a large quantities. Grayson Land Care has some funds to assist with this cost; please contact director@graysonlandcare.org, for more information.
School and County Libraries are available to check out books and access online resources. Contact your librarian for assistance finding books related to your topic. Please see below for additional local and regional resources as well as links that may help you choose a topic
Local Organizations:
Grayson LandCare at www.graysonlandcare.org
Independence Farmers Market http://independencefarmersmarket.org/
Blue Ridge Crossroads Economic Development Authority http://www.brceda.org/
Crossroads Institute http://www.crossroadsva.org/
Regional/State Organizations:
Virginia Cooperative Extension Publications https://pubs.ext.vt.edu/
Blue Ridge Permaculture Network Resources http://www.blueridgepermaculture.net/resources.html
Virginia Beginning Farmer and Rancher Coalition http://www.vabeginningfarmer.alce.vt.edu/index.html
Virginia Association for Biological Farming http://vabf.org/links/
Sustain Floyd Resources Page http://sustainfloyd.org/news/resources/
Links for Project Ideas
Check out these links for project ideas, guidance, and resources. Access the links to the book publishers where you can find many creative ideas just by reading through the book titles. You can then do further research or request the book from your school or county library.
Youth Business How-To http://economicempowermentfoundation.org/entrepreneur-programs/
Service-Learning Project Ideas http://readwriteact.org/files/2013/01/55-Environmental-Service-Learning-Projects.pdf
Chelsea Green Books publishes books focused on sustainability http://www.chelseagreen.com/books-and-products
New Society Publishers publishes books on sustainability https://www.newsociety.com/Books
Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Learning Center http://www.sare.org/Learning-Center to find books, bulletins, videos, and fact sheets on sustainable agriculture.