ALL THE SUBMISSIONS: 
 

• Include the following information:  1) Name of author(s), 2) Age of author(s) on day of submission to the National Competition, 3) Name of registered school or group, 4) Country of residence, 5) Title of entry, 6) Student reflection on the process of creating the entry 7) Link(s) to dissemination 

• Fulfil the Format & Structure criteria for its category.  

• Must be disseminated by the students and proof of that needs to be submitted as well 

• Be in written and/or spoken English or must have English subtitles.   

• Focus on real and current local issues with links to the global context.   

• The students voice should be clear 

• Present possible and constructive solutions supported by credible sources e.g., local stakeholders, experts, academic research, etc.   

• Include a credit role, footnotes, or a bibliography with the sources of images, video footage, music and information not created by students.   

• Include a reflection on the idea, process, intention and learning of the investigation, the communication, the creation of the entry and the whole learning process.  

All entries need to show proof of student dissemination: 

Dissemination must be carried out by the student(s) themselves and should reflect the intended message, audience and purpose of their work. 

Evidence of this dissemination must be provided with the international submission. 

National Operators, schools and educators are strongly encouraged to further amplify students' work, for example, through websites, newsletters or social media. However, this should complement rather than replace student-led dissemination. 

Promotion carried out solely by the National Operator, school or educator will therefore not count as evidence that the student has completed Step 4 of the YRE methodology.

Example: ‍ Türkiye's article The Forest of the Sea: ‍was republished across major national newspapers, a national news agency, regional media, online news platforms and YouTube, significantly extending the reach of the students' investigation beyond the school community. By bringing their research on seagrass, food heritage and climate resilience to wider public audiences, the students demonstrated how environmental journalism can contribute to broader public dialogue on sustainability.  

Together with every submission, students will answer: “In your own words, describe why you choose the topic and highlight the process you followed to develop the communication entry.” To help them share their thoughts, they can try to answer the following questions. These questions are meant to encourage students to reflect on the complete process, reinforcing that the competition values the educational journey as much as the final submission.

Helping questions:

• Why did you choose this topic?

• Why is this issue important to you and your community?

• What process you adopted to develop your journalistic piece?

• What did you hope people would understand after seeing, reading or listening to your work? What impact did you want to create?

• Why did you choose this communication format?

• Who did you want to reach?

• How did you communicate your work? (e.g. exhibition, workshop, local newspaper, municipality, social media, community event, school presentation...)

• What happened after sharing your work? Did you receive feedback, start conversations or inspire action?

• What was the biggest thing you learned during this project?

Students will also have the possibility to upload supporting materials that illustrate the development of their work. Their purpose is to provide additional context where useful and help make the students' learning process more visible.  

AI should not be used to generate Text or visuals. Where AI has been used, students should explain:  

• how it was used;   

• why it was used;   

• which parts remain entirely their own work;   

• how AI supported, rather than replaced, their investigation or creative process. 

 If AI-generated content is detected without transparent reference, points will be deducted. 

For format specific AI use restrictions, read the competition criteria.

Example of how to use AI: the Israeli entry Our Sea is Polluted. Rather than presenting an AI-generated image without explanation, the student explicitly documented how artificial intelligence had been used throughout the creative process. The entry explained why AI was selected, how prompts were designed to communicate the intended environmental message, which visual elements were deliberately requested, and how the final composition was refined. The transparency of this process clearly demonstrated that the environmental concept, creative decisions and overall narrative remained student-led, while AI functioned as a supporting tool rather than replacing the student's own contribution.  

he YRE programme values academic honesty and the use of credible sources. Any facts, statistics, images, etc. that a student uses in their entry (article, photo, or video) should be listed in a ‘Reference’ list at the end of the entry and in-text footnotes are encouraged.  

Remember: While sourcing information, remember these entries aren't academic pieces but journalistic and media-oriented content. Such information is distinguished by featuring insights from knowledgeable individuals in the field. 

Legal matters are especially important in today’s media. It is your responsibility to be aware of the rules and regulations relating to media content (text, photos, and music) when you work on your submission. Any submissions that FEE finds to be of dubious legal standing will be ineligible to win the International Competition. If you have any doubts on this matter, please contact the National Operator in your country or YRE International head office.  

Plagiarism, or using someone else’s ideas, words, images, videos, and/or music and representing it as your own original work, is a serious offense. Therefore, it is especially important that you properly cite any ideas, text or other media that are not your own. You can cite your sources using footnotes, credit rolls for videos, or a bibliography. There are several online sources where you can check your written work, such as articles, for plagiarism. As previously stated in the criteria, all photos, articles, and videos should be your own original work, and in the case of videos a minimum of 70 percent of the video should be your own video footage, images, etc. When reporting on issues and events, it is likely you will conduct additional research on your topic – and we encourage this! Just make sure that you can show where you found your information by citing it. 

Use of Music for Video Entries It is illegal to copy or otherwise infringe upon the rights of copyright-protected music, photos, and text, without the written permission of the copyright rights-holder. Obtaining music licences to permit the use of copyright-protected material, even for a not-for-profit video, can be problematic. As such, it is strongly recommended that you do not use copyright protected music in a video entry.   

Please note that many platforms currently review whether uploaded videos use copyright-protected work. Work found to be using copyright-protected material is usually detected by copyright bots and suspended from the platform. In some countries, infringement of copyright law is enforced, and punishable by hefty fines and a criminal record. Please be aware of your national copyright laws. TIP: Young Reporters might know some young musicians who can create their own original musical score. As an alternative, you can resort to the YouTube Audio Library, which offers royalty-free tracks made available for any not-for-profit creative purpose, and do not require written permission from the rights-holder.   

Music may also be published under an open content licensing scheme, such as the Creative Commons licence. There are still terms, conditions, and restrictions applicable for music taken from the above sources, so please ensure these are fully observed and there is no copyright infringement in your video entry.  

Ethics for Visual Journalism The National Press Photographers Association is a professional society that promotes the highest standards in visual journalism. They have created a Code of Ethics that is very relevant for YRE students who report through photography and videography in particular: Go to Code of Ethics page 

Use of Images in Articles and Video When using images in articles or videos, it is important to ensure that they can legally be used and shared by others. Open source and Creative Commons licensed images may be used, if attribution and/or the source is provided through footnotes or a bibliography.   

Consent When conducting interviews or taking photographs of people, it is important to receive informed consent from your subject. Therefore, make sure to explain why you would like to interview or photograph them beforehand. You should explain what their interview or photo will be used for (National or International YRE Competition), and where you plan to share your final work.  

DECLARATION OF CONSENT FOR PROCESSING OF PERSONAL INFORMATION AND USE OF VIDEO/PHOTO/ARTICLE SUBMITTED 

When signing up to this competition, you agree that we can process your personal data provided in the submission form and given to us during the competition. We process the data so that we can register your participation, judge the submission, save what you have submitted and publish your submission on the international level throughout the FEE network and its partners if you are chosen as a 1st, 2nd, or 3rd place winner. Necessary permission, e.g., for photographing children's faces are the responsibility of the author and must, therefore, be sought. All 1st, 2nd and 3rd place winners will be saved in our archives and used by the FEE network to promote the winners and the programme.  

You always have the option to withdraw your consent and your submission to the competition.  

The Data Controller is:  Foundation for Environmental Education  Scandiagade 13, 2450 Copenhagen SV, DENMARK  +45 70 22 24 27  info@fee.global