The results of the National Corn Growers Association’s Ethanol Rocks Video Contest are in. High school senior Jason Girouard from Brimfield, Mass. received first-place honors and an award of $1,500. Two second-place winners, freshman Emily Yue from Gilford, Conn., and senior Lewis Kloster of Minneapolis, Minn., each received $500 in prize money.
“The purpose of the contest was to get youth interested in learning about renewable fuel while having fun,” said NCGA Ethanol Committee Chair Chad Willis. “However, I think we may have turned a few of the more inquisitive kids into ethanol evangelists. The enthusiasm about their learning experience was the biggest payoff of the project.”
The experience of entering the contest revealed just how much they learned about ethanol’s impact in our everyday lives. They discovered co-products produced in the manufacturing process found their way not only into animal feed, but also carbonated drinks and dry ice.
Country kids and city kids alike participated in the contest. Although the economic and environmental benefits of ethanol were cited most often by contestants, contest judges were particularly impressed by comments about the video production experience. Urban students that had never ventured into a corn field remarked about walking in fields with the breeze whistling through the rows of corn, the amazing smells of rural life and the experience to be something that everyone should experience.
The Ethanol Rocks winning videos are available for viewing online.
Source: NCGA