BBB Educational Foundation College Scholarship

SCHOLARSHIP HIGHLIGHTS & ELIGIBILITY
The Better Business Bureau and its Accredited Business members identify with the motto: “The sign of a better business is trust and integrity.”

Students may compete for one of four $2,500 college or higher education scholarships. Enter by creating a short video, no longer than 90 seconds in length, that presents your opinion with respect to the following prompt:

Why is it important for a business to conduct itself ethically? How might your opinions on this matter be summarized in a motto?

Your entry will be judged by a panel of judges considering two factors: Content and Need.

Content: This is the substance of your video. Demonstrate clarity and articulation in presenting your opinion on the importance of ethical business practices. You may wish to develop a witty and thoughtful motto to summarize your opinion.

Need: This is your motivation for applying for this scholarship. Illustrate your financial need in a written statement explaining why you desire this scholarship and how it will impact your further education.

Use the first portion of your video to introduce yourself and your current school. Entries to this scholarship will be evaluated based on content of the video and the written statement of need. What you say and how you say it are important. High production value (use of multiple cameras, graphics, etc.) will not influence judging.

This contest is open to all public and private high school seniors and college students residing in the following counties in BBB’s service area in Chicago & Northern Illinois. Students must live in one of the following counties to be eligible: (Boone, Carroll, Cook, DeKalb, DuPage, Grundy, JoDavies, Kane, Kankakee, Kendall, Lake, LaSalle, Lee, McHenry, Ogle, Stephenson, Whiteside, Will, Winnebago).

Scholarship funds are sent directly to the relevant academic institution the student will be attending. The academic institution must be accredited by a nationally recognized accreditation group. The academic institution may be a college, university, two-year college, junior college, trade school, or other comparable institution.

Video entries will be accepted during the contest period from January 28, 2020, through May 1, 2020.

Immediate family members of Better Business Bureau officers and employees, as well as its suppliers and vendors, are not eligible to apply for this scholarship.

The 2020 BBB Educational Foundation College Scholarship Video Contest is sponsored by the Educational Foundation of the Better Business Bureau Serving Chicago and Northern Illinois, a 501©(3) charitable organization.

For questions and inquiries email scholarship@chicago.bbb.org

AWARDS
Four (4) $2,500 scholarships will be awarded.

Entries must be submitted by May 1, 2020 via the online entry as described below.

Winners will be notified by email or phone in mid-May 2020. The scholarship winning students are strongly encouraged to be available to receive their award in-person at the BBB Golf Outing on Thursday, July 30, 2020 at Twin Orchard Country Club in Long Grove, Illinois.

Scholarship funds are sent directly to the relevant academic institution the student will be attending. The academic institution must be accredited by a nationally recognized accreditation group. The academic institution may be a college, university, two-year college, junior college, trade school, or other comparable institution.

For questions and inquiries email scholarship@chicago.bbb.org

JUDGING
Evaluation of the video entries and awarding of the scholarships will accomplished by a panel of judges from businesses, colleges/universities, and non-profit organizations.

Judging will be based on:

Completion of all appropriate online entry forms.

Submitting your complete entry by the deadline date and time.

Specificity and clarity in your written statement of need.

Articulation and thoughtfulness in your opinion on the importance of a business to conduct itself ethically in your video.

Creativity and uniqueness of your entry.

For questions and inquiries email scholarship@chicago.bbb.org

ENTRY GUIDELINES
Entries must be submitted by May 1, 2020 via the online submission process described below.

No entry fee is required.

Entries to this scholarship will be evaluated based on content of the video (90 seconds or shorter) and the written statement of need. Please refer to the ‘Scholarship Highlights and Eligibility’ section for more details.

Use the first portion of your video to identify yourself and your current school.

Video submission must be 90 seconds or less in length.

Applicants are permitted only one entry (1 originally produced video) per student.

Entry must be new and original work.

Nudity, profanity, explicit violence, drug use, or references to drug use are grounds for immediate rejection.

Any submission that is found to use third-party material without proper licensing will not be accepted.

Applicants are solely responsible for their film production – this includes obtaining appropriate releases for all persons who appear on-camera, including minors and their parents/guardians, see provided video release below.

If more than one person is shown in the video, the student listed beside “Applicant’s Name” will be the only one eligible to receive this scholarship. Even though all video participants must fill out a release form.

Video file submissions MUST be labeled correctly. The file name should include BBB Scholarship, video title, student’s first initial, and surname. Example: BBBScholarship2020_EthicsInBusiness_JDowe.mp4

Along with the actual submission, the entry form must be signed. By signing the entry form, the student acknowl­edges they have read and understood the rules and guidelines, as well as the terms and conditions forms. Any submission without a signed entry form will be rejected. When including forms that require signatures, print out forms to sign by hand and either scan or photograph form OR sign digitally with software such as acrobat or PS.

All entries become the property of Better Business Bureau. Entries may be used in future promotions, events, or marketing campaigns.

Entries are due Friday, May 1, 2020 scholarship recipients will be notified by email or phone in mid-May 2020.

For questions and inquiries email scholarship@chicago.bbb.org

VIDEO REQUIREMENTS
In order to qualify for judging, your submission must adhere to the following specifications:

Entries must be no longer than 90 seconds in duration.

Should you choose to shoot your video with a phone camera, videos must be shot in “landscape mode” (horizontally). Vertical videos will be disqualified from consideration.

Videos must not contain any music whatsoever.

Video files should be exported, saved, and submitted in the MP4 file format.

Submissions MUST be labeled correctly. The file name should include BBB Scholarship, video title, student’s first initial, and surname. Example: BBBScholarship2020_EthicsInBusiness_JDowe.mp4

All video entries should begin with an introduction that includes your name, age, year in school, the school in which you are currently enrolled.

Videos should be well-lit and contain clear-sounding audio. While it is not expected for you to use expensive or professional equipment, it is required that your face be clearly visible and your voice easily understood in the recording.

For questions and inquiries email scholarship@chicago.bbb.org

SUBMISSION INSTRUCTIONS
When your video is complete you can submit your entry via the following instructions:

Make sure your video file is labeled correctly and has been saved/exported as MP4.

Make sure you have filled out all the necessary paperwork and forms. These must be included with your video to qualify for entry. Blank copies of these forms can be found on this website.

Once all your entry materials are complete and collected, move all files into a single folder. Label this folder “BBBScholarship2020_FirstInitialLastname”. This folder must be no larger than 2GB in size.

Compress this folder into a zip file. Use the same label naming convention as before.

In the web browser of your choice, navigate to the website: https://wetransfer.com

Choose the “take me to free” option.

Fill out the submission information on the left. The email address to send your submission to is scholarship@chicago.bbb.org. Include your own email address on the appropriate line and say hello in the message box.

Finally, drag and drop or upload the zip file of the folder containing your submission files into wetransfer and hit “Transfer” *.

*Please note this will begin the transfer process but the amount of time it takes to send your entry will depend on your internet speed. DO NOT navigate away from this webpage until the confirmation notification that your entry has been sent successfully appears. You will receive a confirmation email from wetransfer that your submission has been sent successfully and a second email once we receive and download your entry.

SUBMISSION CHECKLIST
When your entry is ready to submit make sure it contains all of the following items in a single zip file:

Video in MP4 file format (properly labeled).

Written statement of need.

Release forms filled out and signed by any persons (and legal guardians if necessary) featured in your video. When including forms that require signatures, print out forms to sign by hand and either scan or photograph form OR sign digitally with software such as acrobat or PS.

Terms and conditions form signed and filled out by applicant (and legal guardians if necessary).

For questions and inquiries email scholarship@chicago.bbb.org