Cultural Mental Health Competition

• Essay Format: 
  • MLA Format
  • Font: Times New Roman
  • Font Size 12
  • Double Spaced 
• Essay must be a minimum of 400 words and a maximum of 500 words
• Essay must provide background evidence on how culture influences mental health (what it is). 
• Essay must explain how culture negatively and positively affects mental health (provide examples).
• Essay must provide a minimum of 2 quantitative statistics (max 4) as to how culture has affected mental health within your community/country. Explain the significance of the statistics and why it matters.
• Essay must include a call to action/a plan to raise awareness and how to make a change within your community to prevent culture from negatively affecting your mental health. 
• Include a Works Cited Page (separate from the essay and 500 words) for any information/statistics: 
  • Must be in MLA Citation Format
  • Websites that help with MLA Citations: 
    • https://www.citationmachine.net/mla8/cite-a-website
    • https://www.easybib.com/mla8/source 
    • How to follow MLA format: https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/mla_style/mla_style_introduction.html
• Optional: Personal Connection (short anecdote as an introduction) 

*Contact us if you have any issues with the MLA Citation requirement. 

• The art piece can be one of the following: 
  • Paintings or drawings (any medium) 
    • Minimum 8x11 (inches) / 20x28 (centimeters)
  • Digital art (excluding infographics, no templates)
  • Photography
    • Several photos arranged in some way/collage
    • Photo Arrangement/Collage must be a minimum of 6 photos and a max of 12 photos. 
  • Sculpture/3D Art:  
    • When taking pictures, include multiple angles of the art piece (front, left side, right side, back, and from the top)
• All art MUST be original
• 5-7 sentence caption explaining the artwork
  • Please make sure to include:
    • Title of the art piece
    • Provide background evidence on how culture influences mental health (what it is). 
    • How culture negatively and positively affects mental health (provide examples).
    • Art captions must include a call to action/a plan to raise awareness and how to make a change within your community to prevent culture from negatively affecting your mental health. 
• Caption Format: 
  • Font: Times New Roman
  • Font Size: 12
  • Double Spaced 
• Provide an MLA Citation page for the caption:
  • Must be in MLA Citation Format
  • Websites that help with MLA Citations:
    • https://www.citationmachine.net/mla8/cite-a-website
    • https://www.easybib.com/mla8/source 
  • How to follow MLA format:
    • https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/mla_style/mla_style_introduction.html 

*Contact us if you have any issues with the MLA Citation requirement. 

• Documentary/Video must be around 2:30-5 minutes. 
• One person must be visible for 90% of the video
  • B-roll (less than 10% of the video) should include a voice over explanation
• When submitting include a transcript of the script used in the documentary/video. 
• Documentary/Video must have a clear visual representation (non-pixelated and not blurry)
• The speech used in the documentary/video must be clear.
• The clothing style used in the documentary/video is appropriate, preferably semi-formal, or formal. 
• General Inclusions: 
  • Documentary/Video must provide background evidence on how culture influences mental health (what it is). 
  • The documentary/Video must include how culture negatively and positively affects mental health (provide examples).
  • The documentary/Video must provide a minimum of 2 quantitative statistics (max 4) as to how culture has affected mental health within your community/country. Explain the significance of the statistics and why it matters.
  • Documentary/Video must include a call to action/a plan to raise awareness and how to make a change within your community to prevent culture from negatively affecting your mental health. 
• Include a Works Cited Page for any information/statistics: 
  • Must be in MLA Citation Format
  • Websites that help with MLA Citations: 
    • https://www.citationmachine.net/mla8/cite-a-website
    • https://www.easybib.com/mla8/source 
    • How to follow MLA format: https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/mla_style/mla_style_introduction.html 
• Optional: Personal Connection (short anecdote as an introduction) 

*Contact us if you have any issues with the MLA Citation requirement. 

First Place: 

• Each submission category will have one first-place winner (i.e. there will be 3 first places: one for essay, one for art, one for video)
• First Place Winners will receive:
  • $75 Amazon Gift Card 
  • Feature on our website with picture and name
  • We will also be helping the individual/group enter possible publication platforms. We will work with the individual/team until the submission has been done into the publication platform to attempt to achieve a possible publication. 

*Prizes will be given out to the primary email left on the form. If there is more than one person in a team, it is up to the team to distribute the prize in their terms. 

Second Place: 

• Each submission category will have one second-place winner (i.e. there will be 3 first places: one for essay, one for art, one for video)
• Second  Place Winners will receive:
  • Feature on our website with picture and name
  • We will also be helping the individual/group enter possible publication platforms. We will work with the individual/team until the submission has been done into the publication platform to attempt to achieve a possible publication.