CWF invites high school students from across the state to submit an original social media campaign showing why it is important to protect wildlife in New Jersey!
The fun and educational Species on the Edge 2.0 Social Media Contest capitalizes on high school students’ expertise with social media platforms and provides them with the opportunity to showcase their talent, creativity, and love of nature.
Students will create their own original content (for example: video, text, photograph, computer graphic) or utilize existing Conserve Wildlife Foundation content to create a series of posts focusing on one of New Jersey’s vulnerable species that CWF helps protect.
Best of all, it’s free – and gives students the chance to win prizes!
1st place wins $1,000
2nd place wins $500
3rd place wins $250
This is a wonderful opportunity for high school students to learn about and advocate for New Jersey wildlife, while also earning the chance to win a scholarship! Moreover, the students utilize social media for purposes of this contest!
Please note that entry forms must be received by Saturday, March 27, 2021.
Virtual award ceremony participants from left to right: (top row) CWF Executive Director David Wheeler, PSEG Foundation Chairman Rick Thigpen, CWF Director of Education Stephanie DAlessio, Third Place Winner Lauren Johnson, First Place Winner Virginia Higgins, and Second Place Winner Rory Leadbeater
If you browse through social media, you will find some incredibly creative and effective ways to help imperiled wildlife. You might be compelled by calls-to-action, experience stunning photographs, or may even discover posts about New Jersey’s vulnerable species that—thanks to talented New Jersey high schoolers—got their share of screen time, likes, and retweets during the Conserve Wildlife Foundation’s (CWF) fifth annual Species on the Edge 2.0 Social Media contest.
One of the winning Instagram posts by Virginia Higgins, highlighting the diets of Piping Plovers.
Over the course of 8 days, hundreds of students from across the state created Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook posts about animals that the CWF protects. Through campaigns that featured original artwork, photos, and infographics, contestants took the internet by storm, rose awareness about their chosen species, and garnered nearly 12,000 likes.
The three finalists were celebrated on June 18 in a Facebook Live virtual awards ceremony. The PSEG Foundation sponsored the contest and provided scholarships to the winners.
Conserve Wildlife Foundation, in partnership with our sponsor PSEG Foundation, is proud to recognize the winners of our 2018 Species on the Edge 2.0 Social Media Contest. High school students from across the state submitted original social media campaigns showing why wildlife protection is so important in New Jersey. Our winners exceeded 10,000 likes on Instagram and Facebook.
Casey Finnegan of Toms River High School North was awarded first place and a $1,000 scholarship . Sedona Ryan, our second place winner from Haddonfield Memorial High School, received $500. Third place and $250 went to Kelly George from Toms River High School North.
The annual Species on the Edge 2.0 contest capitalizes on high school students’ expertise with social media platforms, and provides them with the opportunity to showcase their talent, creativity, and love of nature. The contest helps to develop students’ experience in STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Mathematics) and their project management skills. Thank you to everyone who entered.
The contest is made possible through a grant from PSEG Foundation.
CONGRATULATIONS, KAYLEIGH YOUNG AND HOWIE WILLIAMS!
by Lindsay McNamara, Communications Manager
Earlier in 2016, Conserve Wildlife Foundation launched the “For the Love of Wildlife” Photo Contest. Our photography contest was meant to showcase the love for and need to protect the endangered and threatened wildlife that call New Jersey home. We encouraged youth and adult photographers across the Garden State to submit photographs in the following categories:
New Jersey’s Rarest Residents: Endangered, Threatened, and Special Concern Wildlife Species Only
The Garden State: New Jersey Landscapes
Experiencing Nature: People Enjoying the Outdoors
Wild New Jersey: All Animals in the Garden State
We were blown away by the amount of submissions we received! Over 1,470 entries were counted! New Jersey wildlife photographers, CWF board members and staff poured over the entries to choose our winners. Today, we are thrilled to announce both second place winners.
Youth Photographer: Kayleigh Young
Cresskill, New Jersey
Golden-crowned kinglet
Golden-crowned kinglet, youth second place winner Kayleigh Young.
Kayleigh was happy to share more about her image with us! She said, “after placing third in CWF’s 2015 Species on the Edge 2.0 Multimedia Contest, I was invited to join a birding trip on which I took this picture. I’ve always loved photographing wildlife, because I absolutely love nature, hiking, and the outdoors. I don’t think I can choose a single favorite species because I truly do love all animals; if I had to, I would say a fox maybe.”
Howie Williams: Adult Photographer
Oceanville, New Jersey
Mobbed Eagle
Mobbed eagle, adult second place winner Howie Williams.
Howie Williams has been photographing nature, especially raptors, for over 8 years. Peregrine falcons are his favorite bird (because of their raw speed), followed by ospreys, and eagles are a close third. Howie was hooked on photography after watching an osprey family at Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) several years ago. He watched the chicks grow from when they were two weeks old to their first flight!
Howie frequents Forsythe NWR, which is where his winning photograph was taken. A juvenile eagle was sitting on an osprey nest platform. Howie heard a screech and a yell, looked up and saw another juvenile eagle fly in and land on the platform too. He took the above photograph at that moment! Howie couldn’t get both eagles in the frame. In the original shot, you can see just the talons from the other eagle, but he cropped them out for the image he submitted for our contest.
Howie is retired and spends five days a week photographing raptors. He often posts his photographs in the “visitor post” section of our Facebook page. Howie told CWF, “what’s the point of taking pictures without sharing them with people? Where’s the fun in that?”
Stay tuned as we announce the second place winners of the “For the Love of Wildlife” Photo Contest over the next few days!
Lindsay McNamara is the Communications Manager for Conserve Wildlife Foundation of New Jersey.
Enter Conserve Wildlife Foundation’s New Species on the Edge 2.0 Contest by May 22, 2015
By: Lindsay McNamara, Communications Coordinator
Attention New Jersey High School Students!
Love experimenting with new multimedia and technology programs? Want to express your concern for New Jersey’s endangered species and help show the public why wildlife protection is important in the Garden State? Make sure to enter our Species on the Edge 2.0 Multimedia Contest!
Open to all New Jersey high school students, this contest invites students to submit a video, app, podcast, digital graphic design, webpage, or other multimedia component showing why wildlife protection is important in New Jersey. Watch the new Species on the Edge 2.0 video, created by 2015 Video Intern Tyler Grimm, to learn more about this great opportunity.
The contest is made possible through a grant from 
