Media Literacy Project Announces Bad Ad and Counter Ad Contests
Albuquerque, NM (PRWEB) August 12, 2013 -- Media Literacy Project is now accepting entries for their Bad Ad and Counter Ad Contests for 2014, which requires students in grades 6 to 12 to analyze print advertising, promoting media literacy and critical thinking. MLP encourages teachers to incorporate the contests into their curricula, perhaps using the contest as an assignment in courses with writing, critical thinking or visual arts components.
Entries are due by January 20, 2014 for both contests. The first-place winners receive $100. Runners-up receive $50.
“These contests provide a glimpse into media literacy for students, building their confidence in constructing arguments visually and in writing,” said Andrea Quijada, executive director for Media Literacy Project.
The Bad Ad Contest calls for middle- and high-school students to find a print ad to deconstruct, answering key media literacy questions and identifying techniques of persuasion. Essays are graded on grammar and spelling, understanding of the text and subtext in the ad, analysis of the messages and values the ad promotes, as well as the untold stories of what information and whose perspectives are left out of the ad.
The Counter Ad Contest asks students to create a parody of an existing ad by altering some of the ad’s components, like changing the ad’s tagline and flipping the frame on the techniques of persuasion. The entries are judged on the effective use of alteration methods, grammar and spelling, the neatness and quality of the work, as well as insightful and creative analysis of the original ad’s message.
Media Literacy Project’s website features the contests’ rules, entry forms, judging criteria, a guide to writing a good contest entry, and examples of previous winners’ entries. Go to http://www.medialiteracyproject.org/contests for more information.
About Media Literacy Project:
Media Literacy Project (MLP), a non-profit organization based in Albuquerque, is a nationally recognized leader in media literacy resources and education that transforms everyday people into critical media consumers and engaged media justice advocates. MLP offers a comprehensive, social-justice approach to media literacy, addressing its three components: access, analysis, and creation. Since 1993, MLP has worked with schools and community organizations locally, nationally and internationally to deliver dynamic media literacy trainings and curricula, as well as to support media justice campaigns.
Shana Heinricy, Media Literacy Project, +1 (505) 828-3388, [email protected]
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