Travel safe video contest

Travel Safe Student Video Contest

Thank you to everyone who entered the 2025 Travel Safe Student Video Contest! This year's contest is now closed. Winners in the Best Division and Outstanding categories are listed below. Congratulations to all of the winners and to everyone who took part. We look forward to learning from Calgary students again next year! 

2025 Winners

Safe Travel Topics for 2025

Topic 1: Eyes up, phone down

Distracted travel: Explore factors or conditions that divert attention away from the task of safe driving, walking, or wheeling.

Helpful resources:

Topic 2: Cross with care

Pedestrian safety: How and where to cross the street safely; Looking out for each other; be aware, be safe and stay alert at intersections and street crossing.

Helpful resources:

Topic 3: Be safe, ride smart

Bike safety: Be safe, ride, cycle or wheel smart and abide by safety rules of the road; topic includes safe travel practices on bikes, scooters, rollerblades, and skateboards.

Helpful resources:

Topic 4: Why speed matters

Know the speed limit, drive within it: why speed matters; dangerous of speeding; speeding in playground zones

Helpful resources:

A general overview of Calgary traffic safety rules can be found in the Calgary Traffic Safety Tips Booklet

Topic 5: Back to school traffic safety

Back to school traffic safety: Safety tips for kids and parents as they navigate around schools; traffic safety issues around back to school time.

Helpful resources:

Calling all filmmakers! Put on your director’s hat, grab your camera and help make our city’s streets safer for everyone.

You could win prizes and a chance to have your video showcased on the City’s social media accounts and on calgary.ca

We invite all Calgary students in Kindergarten to Grade 12 to create an original 30-second video to promote safety while traveling on city streets, sidewalks and/or pathways. Videos can be funny, serious, live action, stop motion, animated or a mix of styles – whatever you can imagine!

Base your video on one of five these safety topics:

  1. Distracted travel: Factors that divert attention away from the task of safe driving, walking, or wheeling;
  2. Pedestrian safety: Look out for each other, be aware, be safe and stay alert at intersections and street crossing;
  3. Bike safety: how to be safe, ride, cycle or wheel smart and abide by safety rules of the road; applies to kick scooters, skateboards, and rollerblades
  4. Back to school traffic safety: Safety tips for kids and parents when traveling around schools; things to remember when coming back to school after summer break
  5. Know the speed limit, drive within it: why speed matters & speed safety.

Finalists will be showcased at a public viewing party at the Calgary Central Library and the winning videos will be showcased in future safety education initiatives and published online and on social media!

For inquiries about the contest please contact StreetSafeKids@calgary.ca Need help getting started? Check out the Helpful Tips section below.

Contest details

Prizes

There are nine prizes in total to be won! Each video submitted will be scored based on their Division and Topic; each winning video will win a prize valued at $200. A video may only win one prize.

Division: Best Overall Video (Four prizes to be won)     Topic: Outstanding Video (Five prizes to be won)
Division I (Gr. K-3)  Distracted Driving  
Division II (Gr. 4-6)  Speed  
Junior High (Gr. 7-9)  Bike Safety 
High School (Gr. 10-12)  Back to School 
  Pedestrian Safety 

Eligibility

Technical Requirements

The following requirements must be met for videos to be eligible for contest submission:

 Criteria Weight % Explanation
Technical requirements Pass/Fail The video does not exceed 30 seconds in length, identifies one safety topic, & abides by all entry rules.
Topic knowledge & content clarity 30 The video identifies and describes a travel safety issue, presents it in a way that is easy to understand and is accessible to viewers.
Critical thinking 30 The video demonstrates the student(s)’s understanding of the topic, why it is important, and how to address it.
Creativity & originality 20 The video is creative and engaging and shows evidence of student effort. 
Production quality 20 The video’s overall quality of production, including editing, visuals and sound elements.

Helpful Tips

  • Get creative! Videos can be funny, serious, live action, animated, stop motion or a mix of styles.
  • Not everyone in your group is required to be “on screen” – there are many roles that go into creating a video including script writing, directing, videography, etc.
  • Each Travel Topic has several different sub-topics you can explore. For example, Back to School Traffic Safety could explore congestion issues, encouraging parents/drivers to park safely, blocking crosswalks, speeding OR reminding people of the dangers of jaywalking. Be sure to pick just one safety concern to explore.
  • Storyboarding your scenes and writing down dialogue can help keep your message on track. Note that 60-75 spoken words takes about 30 seconds of film.
  • Make sure you slow down and speak clearly (if using audio) and try not to rush through messaging. Ask your friends to view and provide feedback.
  • Focus on the most essential information. It is better to have a single, simple and clear message rather than try to cram too much into one video.
  • Avoid using statistics, if possible.
  • Plan it out: what are the images, sounds and locations you might want to use to create your video? Remember, you cannot use any copyrighted music, audio/video clips, characters, logos, or other protected materials. (If your clothing or accessories have a label on them, they must be covered, blurred out or removed.)
  • You do not need fancy equipment to make a video – it can easily be done with a smart phone, tablet, or laptop; the Calgary Public Library offers public access to audio & video recording equipment and post-production studios.
  • Ask your friends or family to view your video and provide feedback.

2024 contest winners

  • Word on the Street

    Grand prize winner

    Finn Lee-Epp from St. Francis High School.

  • Ride Smart * Stay Safe.

    Runner-up #1

    Ayush Pant from Dr. EP Scarlett High School.

  • What a nightmare!

    Runner-up #2

    Ngoc Minh Pham & Linh Dan Pham from Varsity Acres School and Sir Winston Churchill High School.

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