Overview

Workers who are new to a job are three times more likely to be injured during the first month on the job than more experienced workers.

We put on the Youth Safety Video Contest to help  youth learn and talk about safety on the job.

We encourage students to submit original, two minute videos about the importance of working safely on the job that can be shared on social media.

The winning team, along with their school and/or community centre, will receive a cash prize.

Canadian Nationals

The Ontario team that wins first place will also be entered into the Canadian Nationals.

The national competition is hosted by the Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety, where teams can win more cash prizes for themselves, their schools and community centre.

Theme

Students can submit videos that:

  • show how to identify and prevent hazards that could lead to injury, mental and physical illness and fatalities at work
  • send a message to peers to raise awareness about workplace safety
  • focus on any other workplace health and safety messages they wish to convey

Eligibility

To be eligible you must be:

  • an Ontario resident
  • aged 13 to 19
  • attending an Ontario secondary school or participating in a community centre program

Your video must not be longer than 2 minutes in length (videos that are longer than 2 minutes will be disqualified).

You cannot enter the contest if you or your immediate family members work for:

  • provincial or federal workers’ compensation boards
  • provincial and federal ministries and departments of labour
  • the Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety

Deadline

You must submit your video by Friday, February 21, 2025, at 11:59 p.m., Eastern Standard Time. Late submissions will be disqualified.

How to enter

  1. Upload your video to Vimeo (free online video platform).  
  2. Download the Contest Entry Form.
  3. Fill in all required information electronically (we will not accept handwritten entries).
  4. Include the URL for your video on the entry form.
  5. Complete the form. Forms can be signed electronically; alternatively, if signed on paper, please scan the completed form. Please note that the only handwritten portion of the form that is acceptable are the signatures. Applicable copyright permissions must be attached to your entry form.
  6. Submit your entry by emailing the entry form to videocontest@ontario.ca and include the:
    • name of your video in the subject line
    • name of your school or community centre
    • email addresses of all members of your video submission team
    • a direct link to your video in the body of the email

Prizes

Winner will receive:

  • $1000 for the entrant(s)
  • $1000 for their school/community centre

One runner up will receive a certificate of achievement.

Selection process

A panel of judges assigned by the ministry will judge and score videos that meet all eligibility requirements.

The judges’ decisions are final.

Scoring criteria

The panel will judge the videos using the following criteria:

Impact and persuasiveness — worth 30% of your score

  • Message clarity: Is the main idea clear and compelling?
  • Emotional appeal: Does the video engage viewers emotionally?
  • Call to action: Is there a strong, memorable call to action?

Overall presentation of workplace information and clarity of chosen theme — worth 30% of your score

  • Relevance: Is the information accurate and relevant to the topic?
  • Structure: Does the video have a logical flow?
  • Engagement: Are viewers engaged throughout the video?

Creativity — worth 20% of your score

  • Originality: Does the video offer a unique perspective?
  • Innovative techniques: Are creative elements used effectively?
  • Visual appeal: Are the visuals engaging and interesting?

Technical quality — worth 20% of your score

  • Production value: Is the video well produced with good lighting and sound?
  • Editing: Is the video edited smoothly with good pacing?
  • Sound quality: Is the audio clear and easy to understand?

Get inspired

Watch videos from previous winners of the national contests.

Complete contest rules

Submitting a video

  1. Submit your video for judging via the video sharing website Vimeo. Memberships to Vimeo are free. Videos can be password protected to maintain privacy. If you choose to password protect your video, you must include the password on your contest entry form. All videos must remain downloadable from Vimeo for the duration of the contest period.
  2. Carefully read all rules and complete the official entry form with all required signatures. Include any copyright permissions for music or materials, along with a transcript of all spoken text in the video. The contest organizers are not responsible for entries that are delayed, lost, misdirected, incomplete, damaged, or destroyed. Any entry that is tampered with, unreadable, or mutilated will be disqualified.
  3. Contestants must ensure the link to their Vimeo video is valid and allows the contest organizers to download the submission. The video cannot be altered or re-uploaded after the contest closing date. Entries not meeting these criteria will be disqualified.

Entry form

  1. Each contestant must complete and submit an official contest entry form that clearly indicates the direct web address of their video submission on Vimeo. All contest entry forms must be typed with the exception of any signatures.
  2. Entry forms from secondary school students or community centre program participants must be sponsored by a secondary school teacher/educator or community centre program leader. Sponsors are responsible for guiding the student or team through the planning and production of the video and must review the video prior to its submission to the contest.
  3. Contestants must indicate on the entry form that the video submission is an entirely original work by the contestant or his/her team and must grant contest organizersfootnote 1 unrestricted use and reproduction rights for any purposes.

Permissions and copyright

  1. The video must not infringe upon or violate any laws or any third party rights, including, but not limited to, copyright, patent, trademark, trade secret or other proprietary rights, and must not lead to any cause of action, including libel, defamation, privacy violation, contract breach or tort.
  2. Contestants must obtain all necessary permissions, licenses, clearances, releases, waivers of moral rights and other approvals from third parties (including but not limited to all copyright holders and all individuals appearing in the video submission), necessary to use the video submission, in whole or in part, in any way, including without limitation, to reproduce, make derivatives, edit, modify, translate, distribute, transmit, publish, license and broadcast the video submission worldwide, by any means. If your video contains content that was edited or generated with the use of artificial intelligence (AI), it should be clearly disclosed with your contest entry form or in the credits of your video.

    Any and all such permissions, licenses, clearances, releases, waivers of moral rights and approvals must be attached to the contest entry form.

Privacy

  1. All video submissions must be respectful and courteous, and in English or French or both. You are fully responsible for everything that you submit, and all videos are intended for the general public. Therefore, to protect your own privacy and the privacy of others, do not include personal information such as phone numbers, social insurance numbers, banking information, resumes or email addresses in the videos.

Offensive content

  1. Contest organizers will not accept videos that are offensive to an individual or an organization, rude in tone or abusive. Contest organizers reserve the right to refuse, edit or remove any of the following:
    • racist, hateful, sexist, homophobic, slanderous, insulting, or life-threatening content
    • serious, unproven, unsupported, or inaccurate accusations against individuals or organizations
    • abusive, aggressive, coarse, explicit, vulgar, violent, obscene, or pornographic content
    • content that encourages or suggests illegal activity
    • announcements, solicitations, advertisements, or endorsements of any organizations and agencies
    • attempts to defame or defraud any individual, group or agency
    • unintelligible or irrelevant content

    Anyone acting contrary to these rules may be temporarily or permanently excluded from the contest’s spaces, accounts and channels, where applicable.

Transcripts and sourcing your information

  1. All video spoken text must be transcribed in the language of the video (no translation required). Video transcripts must be word-processed and submitted with the contest application.
  2. Any statistics used within the video must include the source of the information.

Your safety when making the video

  1. Your own personal safety and the safety of your cast, crew and others involved with the production of the video submission must be maintained. Do not endanger anyone during the making of your video.

    If you portray dangerous tasks in your video, you must follow all safety rules and take all precautions to prevent injuries. If you are filming on a real work site, get permission from the site owner, take all appropriate health and safety precautions including following all applicable health and safety policies and regulations.

    You will need to consult with the employer, a supervisor or other competent individual when on the site to advise them about what you are doing, who will be on their site, their ages and ensure you are aware of and follow all site safety requirements. For secondary school students, review your video production plans, and discuss and address any safety issues with your supervising teacher or mentor before starting production of your video.

Prizes

Canadian finals

Ontario’s Youth Video Contest winner will be automatically entered into the Canadian finals to compete against the winning provincial and territorial videos from across Canada. The winner of the Canadian finals will be awarded $2000.

The winning secondary school or community centre will receive a matching prize equal to the total prize awarded to the winning student or team of students.

  1. For team entries, the contest coordinator will issue the cheque to the team leader designated on the contest entry form.
  2. For a team entry consisting of students from more than one school or community centre, the team must first decide which school or community centre will act as the sponsor for the purposes of this contest. The chosen sponsor will be eligible for the corresponding contest prize if the team's video wins first prize in its jurisdiction or a national prize, as specified in the contest rules.
  3. The chances of winning a prize depend on the total number and quality of eligible entries received before the closing date.

What you need to know about your video submission

  1. No entries will be returned. All entries become the property of the contest organizers.
  2. Each contestant (and, in the case of minors,footnote 2 a parent or guardian) must consent to the use, reproduction, publication, transmission and/or broadcasting of his/her name, address, likeness, school, community centre, age, grade and/or prize information, without compensation, in any advertisement, publication or promotion, for general news or other information purposes. Winners must also consent to their photographs being taken by the contest organizers for the same purposes, without further compensation. Each contestant (and his/her parent or guardian, if applicable) irrevocably and in perpetuity grants the contest organizers, without compensation, the right to use the video submission, in whole or in part, in any way, including without limitation, to reproduce, make derivatives, edit, modify, translate, distribute, transmit, publish, license and broadcast the video submission worldwide, by any means.
  3. Each individual or, in the case of a team entry, team leader who submitted a winning entry will be notified by telephone or email that his/her entry has won by April 2025 and the procedure to follow to claim the applicable prize. If an individual or a team leader declines the prize, it will be forfeited and awarded to another entry in accordance with these contest rules. Only the winning entries will be notified. Selected winning videos will be posted on designated contest video site(s) .
  4. If the contest organizers, in their sole discretion, deem that an insufficient quantity or quality of entries has been received, the contest organizers reserve the right not to award any prizes.

If you win a prize

  1. Contest organizers will contact the contest winner and their school or community centre directly to facilitate the prize distribution.
  2. Before collecting a prize, each individual or team member involved in the creation of a winning entry, and, in the case of those individuals or team members who are minors, their parent or legal guardian will be required to sign a declaration and release form confirming compliance with the contest rules, and acceptance of the prize as awarded and assigning all rights, titles and interests in the entry to the contest organizers within seven (7) days of being notified that his/her entry has been selected.
  3. If a contestant is a minor, the contest will require his or her parent’s or legal guardian’s authorization before permitting the contestant to participate in the contest and accept a prize as awarded. In the case of a team entry, each member of the team who is not 18 years old must also obtain parental or guardian consent.

Conditions

  1. The contest organizers reserve the right to cancel, terminate, modify or suspend the contest for any reason, without any prior notice to any contestant.
  2. These rules may be changed without notice or reason including, if necessary, to comply with any applicable law. By entering this contest, contestants agree to abide by these rules and acknowledge that the contest organizers shall not be responsible for any damages, costs, demands, claims or losses of any kind, incurred by any contestant as a result of participation in this contest.
  3. This contest shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of each Province and any applicable federal laws. These rules govern all aspects of the contest and are binding on all contestants and all other participants including parents, legal guardians and team members who sign the official entry form.
  4. This contest is void where prohibited by law.
  5. The contest organizers are not responsible for:
    • computer or network malfunction or error, whether technical or human in nature
    • communication disruption
    • other forces beyond the reasonable control of the contest organizers

    The contest organizers reserve the right to correct any typographical, printing, computer programming or operator errors.