Reel Recipes Student Video Contest

• Focus on vegetables and fruit and emphasize foods that are low in saturated fat, added sugar and salt
• Emphasize foods and recipes that are low cost and readily available at all common grocery stores
• Emphasize whole foods versus processed foods (such as pre-packaged highly processed foods that are high in sugar, fat and/or salt)
• Demonstrates an easy recipe that may or may not involve cooking equipment and emphasizes cooking skills
• Keep Canada’s Food Guide recommendations and food safety in mind
• Use at least one of any of the topics provided

• The video must be vertical 1080x1920 (under 256 megabytes) and no longer than 90 seconds
• A 150-word summary must be provided with all video submissions. Your summary could include a description of your video, the key message(s) you chose to work on and why, any successes and challenges you encountered in creating your video, and why this video would be important for others to view
• Video submissions must follow all contest rules
• Video does not include any brand names, company endorsement images or logos (including the York Region logo)
• Ensure that all consent forms are signed before you submit your video online. All video participants must submit the appropriate consent forms

Eligible videos will be judged against the following criteria:

• Does the video grab attention?
• Is it engaging or inspiring?
• Does it show healthy, affordable ingredients?
• Does the recipe look doable?
• Are basic cooking or prep skills shown?
• Does it align with Canada’s Food Guide?

1. You must live and/or attend a secondary school in York Region to qualify
2. Be between the ages of 14 and 18 years old
3. The submission of your video to the contest is your acknowledgement of, and agreement to, the terms and conditions of the contest, as outlined
4. You may only submit one video to the contest
5. Your video must be original, created by you, and you must not submit a project created by someone else or developed using AI. You must be the sole owner of all rights to the video you submit
6. The Regional Municipality of York retains the sole discretion to disqualify any videos that are contested in any manner
7. Your video must be relevant to the contest theme of nutrition and health and must be appropriate for posting by The Regional Municipality of York on its website
8. Your video must have a clear positive nutrition message based on one (or more) of the key messages provided (see Video Content Criteria)
9. Your video must NOT contain depiction of weapons, violence, obscenity, defamation, or use of alcohol or drugs. The Regional Municipality of York will determine, in its sole discretion, what constitutes such content
10. Your video must NOT include any brand name items or company endorsement images (including the York Region logo)
11. Images and music used in your video must not be copyrighted material (i.e., you have used images you have taken and have consent for or have used images from a free image site)
12. If you use any statistics in your work, please use Canadian statistics and provide the sources. We will review them for accuracy and suitability
13. Those involved in the judging of the submissions (including student/youth volunteers) may participate in the contest but will not be eligible to collect or win prizes
14. The Regional Municipality of York is not responsible for computer system, hardware, software or program malfunctions or other errors, failures of delayed computer transactions or network connections that affect the contest or your participation in it. Furthermore, the Regional Municipality of York is not responsible for:
    • Lost, misdirected, misplaced, illegible, unintelligible, incomplete, or late entries
    • Any act, failure to act, or delay regarding the transmitting or processing of entries
15. You acknowledge The Regional Municipality of York reserves the right in its sole discretion to cancel or suspend any portion of this contest for any reason whatsoever, without any liability to you for any costs you may have incurred in respect of the contest
16. The Regional Municipality of York is entitled to interpret these rules as required and its decision is final
17. This contest is subject to all applicable federal, provincial, and municipal laws and regulations. These contest rules are subject to change without notice to comply with any applicable federal, provincial, and municipal laws or the policy of any other entity having jurisdiction over the contest
18. By participating in the contest, you agree to hold harmless The Regional Municipality of York, and its employees, agents, and representatives from any, and all damages, injuries, claims, causes of actions, or losses of any kind resulting from your participation in this contest, including infringement of another person’s intellectual property rights. You also release The Regional Municipality of York and its employees, agents and representatives from any responsibility or liability for any damages, injuries, claims, and causes of actions or losses of any kind you may incur or suffer arising in whole or in part from your participation in this contest
19. All video submissions become the property of The Regional Municipality of York. The Regional Municipality of York may amend all, or part of the video it considers desirable for use
20. By entering the contest, you agree to have your video:
    • Adapted and posted on The Regional Municipality of York’s YouTube channel
    • Displayed at Regional locations
    • Used by The Regional Municipality of York as communications materials, advertising and promotional materials including social media
    • Shared with other Public Health Units or agencies
    • Posted on The Regional Municipality of York’s website and/or social media channels, for any purpose, and at any time in the future without any fee or other form of compensation
21. By entering the contest, you acknowledge and agree The Regional Municipality of York may use your name in the following manner:
    • To release your name and school for the purpose of announcing winners and promoting any media campaign platform
    • To include your name in any disclaimer pertaining to the submission
22. Your video must be received by The Regional Municipality of York (York Region Public Health) in its original format, and not via any third-party websites. Submissions must be made electronically via the Reel Recipes Video Contest Submission Form
23. All video submissions received after April 30, 2026, will not be eligible to participate in the contest
24. Videos received without a 150-word descriptive paragraph will not be eligible to participate in the contest
25. Videos will be judged by a panel of youth on criteria in five categories including first impression, creativity, alignment with campaign key message, nutrition criteria and ability to inspire meal preparation. These categories include how creatively the chosen nutrition topic and message have been incorporated into the video and how easily the video can be reproduced and used by The Regional Municipality of York (see Judging Criteria)
26. Participants who have submitted a winning video will be notified by email. Participants have five (5) days to respond to the email notification. If participants don’t respond by this time, their video will be disqualified and will not be eligible for contest prizes and another video will be selected
27. The Regional Municipality of York reserves the right to disqualify any contestant it has reason to believe does not comply with the contest rules. If after the awarding of the contest’s prizes, a contest winner is disqualified or determined to be ineligible, an alternative winner will be selected using the same judging process/criteria described above. Alternate winners are subject to all requirements set forth in these rules

Yes, if you attend a Secondary school in York Region and are between the ages of 14-18 years old, you are eligible to participate.

No, only one person on the submission form will receive the prize.

You do not require teacher approval to participate in the contest.

The deadline to submit your video is April 30, 2026.

Please avoid using trending audio unless you have the rights—that means the creator or platform allows people to reuse it or it’s labeled as free to use.

Yes, you can use your phone to film your video.

No, please ensure videos and clips are created by you to avoid copyright infringement. 

No, you cannot use images or clips generated by Artificial Intelligence (AI). You must be the sole owner of all rights to the video you submit.

You can only submit one video per person; however, other students who are submitting videos may appear in your video. All video participants must submit the appropriate consent forms.

The person who submits the video must live or go to school in York Region. Other students may appear in the video, and all participants in the video must submit the appropriate consent forms.

Yes, other family or friends may appear in your video; however, make sure everyone has signed the appropriate consent form and parental consent has been provided for all participants under 18 (parents must sign the consent form for those under 18).