HomeInitiatives and ProgramsCall to Service Collegiate Competition

Call to Service Collegiate Competition

Calling all creative and motivated communications students wanting to serve their communities!

The Call to Service Collegiate Competition was created to spark the humanitarian spirit of communications students by challenging them to develop a community service initiative and partner with a local broadcaster to execute their idea. Winners of the competition will be awarded scholarships and a matching donation for their charity.

Broadcasters have long played a critical role in addressing the issues and social concerns of their local communities. Each year, radio and television broadcasters generate as much as $10 billion for community service efforts. The Call to Service Competition will give students the opportunity to work with their local broadcast station to carry out their service projects.

If you are a communications student with great ideas and a passion to serve your community and you would like to partner with a local radio or television station to make an impact in your community, enter this competition. You can be a part of a generation that makes a difference in your world, one community at a time.

The Competition

Students may submit a project proposal individually or in teams. Projects must serve a local non profit organization. Up to 20 of the best project proposal submissions will be chosen as finalists in the competition. NABEF will provide Flip Video™ Camcorders for the selected proposals. Selected students are fully responsible for developing and executing their ideas. Students will hone their journalism skills by contributing video blogs, articles, and news updates that chronicle their experience on the Call to Service site throughout the project.

Students are responsible for reaching out to the station they would like to work with on their project. NABEF will provide a letter for the station certifying this competition. An additional option for students would be partnering with their college broadcast stations. While broadcasters are expected to contribute beyond partnering in name only, they are able to determine their level of involvement based on available resources. Some minimal levels of involvement can include highlighting the student's initiative during newscasts, participating in an event planned by the student and running PSAs for the student's event.

Students will have 60 days to complete their projects. NABEF will judge each project for creativity, community involvement and use of media and technology to chronicle the project. First, second and third place winners will be selected to receive scholarships and have their work highlighted during the NABEF Celebration of Service to America Awards. In addition, the scholarship dollars will be matched with a donation to the students' charitable cause/organization.

Six prizes will be awarded as follows:

Winners of the Call to Service Collegiate Competition will be awarded scholarship money for the fall semester of the following academic year.

First place winner(s) will be flown out to NABEF's Celebration of Service to America Awards Gala in Washington, D.C.

Please see the rules and guidelines for details. For more information please contact Rumana Sultana at (202) 429-5428.